PETALING
JAYA: Clearfield rice was based on technology first commercialised in the
United States to combat the weed problem in rice fields.
Its success
in overcoming this problem saw it widely adopted in South America and Italy.
Malaysia
jumped on the bandwagon in 2003 and took seven years to perfect the
pre-existing strain to suit the local environment.
Research to
find the local solution was undertaken by Malaysian Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (Mardi) and chemical giant BASF Malaysia.
The two new
strains can outlive the herbicide used to control and eliminate weedy rice at
the beginning of the padi planting season.
However,
there are specific requirements and recommendations when planting the
variations.
To prevent
cross-breeding, Clearfield cannot be planted for more than two cycles in a
season.
However,
padi farmers here did not follow the above recommendations.
Three years
after it was first planted, there were already signs of abuse by padi farmers.
It took two
years of extensive research to confirm the findings, but by the time the result
showed that it had cross-bred with weedy rice, it was already too late to
reverse the adverse effects.
It was also
near impossible to start from scratch again as most fields in the country had
already started using Clearfield and were affected by the cross-breeding.
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