A Sustainable Paddy Farming Practice in West Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia aims to transform its current agricultural practices to modern, innovative and sustainable levels.There are many issues that are highlighted to improve the sustainability of agricultural practices. However, this is not an easy task because there are several problems that the society and farmers will face, especially in enhancing their lifestyles as well as their ecosystems.Introducing Information and Communication Technology application like electronic learning is a novel way to educate and promote the young generation to appreciate sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, it can promote a sustainable living environment. Before the designing of this education prototype, the current practices of sustainable agriculture in paddy fields should be collected. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to discuss and identify the current practices of paddy farming at four locations in West Malaysia. This is a preliminary study to design a prototype learning based on real practices performed in organic paddy fields. This research employed a qualitative research design using the observation and case study approaches.The respondents for this study were the farmers, researchers and agricultural officers.The locations for this case study were the paddy farming areas in Sabak Bernam, Kahang, Tunjung and Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA).As a conclusion, the results showed that the paddy farming practised in the four selected locations employed a sustainable agricultural system at certain stages of their paddy farming.