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SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: ORGANIC FARMING vs.
CHEMICAL BASED FARMING PRACTICES IN SERIAN, SARAWAK
Dayang Filidia Binti Abang Ahmad Bolhassan
Master of Environmental Science (Land Use and Water Resource Management)
2006
Pusat Khidmat Makiumat Akademik UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
P. KNIDMAT MAKWMAT AKADEMIK
iiiiuiiili'IllliiiiiIIN 1000248230
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: ORGANIC FARMING vs.
CHEMICAL BASED FARMING PRACTICES IN SERIAN, SARAWAK.
DAYANG FILIDIA BINTI ABANG AHMAD BOLHASSAN
A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Environmental Science (Land Use and Water Resource Management)
FACULTY OF RESOURCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
2006
"The good farmer, like an artist, performs within a pattern;
he must do one thing while remembering many others.
He must be thoughtful of relationships and connections,
always aware of the reciprocity of dependence
and influence between part and whole.
His work may be physical, but its integrity is made by thought. "
Wendell Berry
11
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ALHAMDULILLAH and my most gratitude to Allah s. w. t. for the strength
and courage He gave to me throughout completing this project to success.
This project would not have been possible without the guidance and full
support of the people and agencies, listed herein, to whom I am greatly indebted to
and wish to express many thanks and gratitude.
First and foremost, to my supervisor, Prof. Wan Sulaiman Wan Harm for his
wise control, constant guidance, healthy criticism, constant encouragement, persistent inspiration and various logistic supports throughout the course of this study. My
utmost gratitude also to my examiner, Dr. Petrus Bulan for his patient assistance,
meticulous and constructive comments on the dissertation. My special appreciation is
also extended to Mr. Robert Malong, Project Manager for Centre for Technology
Transfer and Consultancy, for support, suggestions and comments at various stages of
this study. I also wish to thank Mr. Jopen Abut, Research Officer at Soil Department
in Department of Agriculture Sarawak for his assistance and guidance in knowing the
soils of Serian area. My warmest gratitude also to other faculty members and fellows,
to Mr. Sand and Mr. Mohd Rizan Abdullah for their cooperation, technical support
and supply of materials in carrying out this project. My gratefulness also to all
SLUSE lecturers for their guidance in opening my eyes to the reality and importance
of environment and also for constant reminder and awareness to -improve our
environment. Deepest appreciations are also extended to the farmers in Serian area for
their kind assistance and patience throughout my interviews and soil samplings in
their farms.
My warmest thanks go to all fellow SLUSE 2004-2006 post-graduate
colleagues for their supports, stimulating discussions, suggestions and warm friendship.
Last but not least, I'm deeply appreciative of my mother, Puan Aisah
Abdullah, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephew, families for their encouragement, devotion and understanding which have always been the source of inspiration
throughout the entire of this study. In memory of my late father, Abang Ahmad
Bolhassan Abang Hadari whom had always encouraged me to believe in that
`Knowledge is the power in choice of life'... Al fatihah...
iii
Pusat Khidmat MaklumatAkademik UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content PaEe
Acknowledgements ......................................................... iii
Table of Contents .......................................................................... iv
List of Tables ............................................................................... vii
List of Figures .............................................................................. viii
List of Plates ................................................................................ ix
Abstract ...................................................................................... x
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Organic farming and Intensive farming ........................................... 1
1.2 Justification ............................................................................... 3
1.2.1 Significance of study ..................................................... 3
1.3 Objectives ........................................................................... 4
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Malaysian Settings ..................................................................... 5
2.2 Agro-ecological Zones (AEZ) of East Malaysia ............................... 6
2.3 Agriculture in Malaysia ................................................................ 6
2.3.1 Farming and Cropping Systems in Malaysia ...............
2.4 Sustainable Agriculture ............................................................ 12
2.4.1 General Concept ............................................................................. 12
iv
2.4.2 Types of Sustainable Agriculture ................................................... 13
2.4.2.1 Organic Farming ................................................................. 15
2.4.3 Organic Farming in Malaysia ............................................... 17
2.4.4 Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture .................................... 19
2.4.5 Economics of Sustainable Agriculture ............................. 20
2.5 Chemical - based Farming/ Green Revolution ................................. 21
2.5.1 Technologies of Green Revolution ...................................... 22
2.5.2 Criticisms of the Green Revolution ..................................... 25
2.5.3 Pesticide Policy in Malaysia ............................................. 29
2.5.4 Fertilizer Sector in Malaysia ............................................. 31
2.6 Agriculture and Soil ................................................................ 34
2.6.1 Soil Quality and Farming Practices ..................................... 34
2.6.2 Indicators of Soil Quality ................................................. 35
Chapter 3
Materials and Methods
3.1 Analytical Approach and Framework .......................................... 39
3.2 Background of Study Area ....................................................... 40
3.2.1 Location ................................................................... 40
3.2.2 Climate .................................................................... 41
3.2.3 Vegetation and Land Use ............................................... 46
3.2.4 General Geography ....................................................... 52
3.2.5 Soils of the Study Sites .................................................. 56
3.3 Data Acquisitions and Analytical Methods ................................... 60
3.3.1 Soil Sampling ............................................................ 60
3.3.2 Soil Analysis ............................................................. 63
V
3.4 Limitation of Study ............................................................... 65
Chapter 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Common Agricultural Activities in Serian .................................... 67
4.1.1 Subsistence Farming with Supplementary Cash Production ( Shifting Cultivation ) ................................................... 67
4.1.2 Cash Orientation with Supplementary Subsistence Farming or Semi - Commercialized Farming ( Small Mixed Farms )............ 69
4.1.3 Complete Specialization for the Market or Commercialized Farming ( Intensive Farming ) ........................................... 69
4.2 Organic Farming Versus Intensive Chemical - based Farming in Serian.. 70
4.2.1 Operations in the Organic farms ........................................ 72
4.2.2 Operations in the Intensive Chemical - based Farms ................ 74
4.3 Common crops planted in sampling sites of Serian ........................... 75
4.4 Current Status of Soil Quality Under Serian Vegetable Farms ............... 78
4.4.1 Soil Texture ................................................................ 79
4.4.2 Soil Reaction (pHxao) ..................................................... 80
4.4.3 Soil Organic Matter (SO M) .............................................. 83
4.5 Agricultural Potential of the Study Sites ........................................ 86
4.6 Sustainability of the Agricultural Practices in Serian ..................... 87
Chapter 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion ......................................................................... 90
5.2 Recommendation .................................................................. 93
References .................................................................................. 94
Plates ........................................................................................ 100
Appendices ................................................................................. 103
V1
List of Tables
Table Page
1 Summary of the Characteristics of the Agro-ecological Zones (AEZ) of Sarawak ........................................................................ 9
2 Agricultural Production ('000 tonnes), 1995 and 2000, Forecast to 2005 ................................................................................ 10
3 Number and Area of Organic Producers per State in 2001 ................. 18
4 Pesticides Withdrawn or Partially/ Totally Banned by the Pesticide Board of Malaysia ............................................................... 29
5 Fertilizer Nutrient Consumption by Crop Groups ('000 tonnes).......... 32
6 Vegetable Crops: Summary of Total Fertilizer Use in Malaysia.......... 34
7 Mean Monthly and Mean Annual Rainfall ................................... 44
8 Monthly Temperature and Relative Humidity at Kuching International Airport (KIA) ....................................................................... 45
9 Collection of Soil Samples from Different Sites and Soil Depth......... 61
10 Field Method for Texture Determination ..................................... 64
11 List of Common Crops Species Planted in Sampling Sites of Serian.... 75
12 Soil Quality Parameters of Selected Vegetable Farms in Comparison
with Secondary Forest (control) Soil ....................................... 78
Vii
List of Figures
Figures Page
1 Dominant soil map of Malaysia ................................................ 8
2 Agro-ecological regions of Sarawak ........................................... 8
3 Framework of the study .......................................................... 39
4 Location of the surveyed area ................................................. 42
5 Mean monthly rainfall distribution ............................................ 43
6 Land tenure classification ....................................................... 51
7 Communication and settlements in Serian .................................... 55
8 Soil map of the sampling sites .................................................. 62
9 USDA soil texture triangle .................................................... 80
10 Soil pH range ...................................................................... 83
11 Functions of soil organic matter ................................................ 85
12 Components of soil organic matter ............................................ 86
viii
List of Plates
Plates Page
1 Kampung Rasau, Serian organic vegetable farm ............................ 100
2 Kampung Rasau, Serian farm under DOA project .......................... 100
3 Chicken manure storage in the organic farms ................................ 101
4 Long bean plant in chemical-based vegetable farm ......................... 101
5 Padi husks compost heap in the organic farm ................................ 102
6 Insecticide used in the farms .................................................... 102
7 Fertilizer used in the farms ...................................................... 102
ix
ABSTRACT
Agriculture has played a key role in the development of modern Malaysia, resulting
in the country becoming the world's leading palm oil producer and the third largest producer
of natural rubber. Agriculture continues to make a significant contribution to the national
economy. In 2003, the agriculture sector registered a growth of 5.5 percent, following in
importance after the manufacturing and the service sectors. In 2004, the government of
Malaysia declared the agriculture sector to be the third engine of growth. Following this
promising status of agriculture, many modern and large scale agricultural farming are
encouraged to be applied by existing farmers and also to newly open farms. In this frenzied
state to agriculture, many concerns on the wisdom of opening more lands for agriculture,
especially on massive mono - crop plantation such as oil palm, or maintaining natural state of
virgin lands. Appalling decisions may raise unseen problems such as depleting state of soil
conditions. Thus, more sustainable agricultural practices likely to be applied in such huge
farms will help in reducing problems with soil conditions and also pollution. At present,
organic agricultural practices have increasingly becoming the new trend for attaining
sustainable agriculture system in the country. Farms such as in Cameron Highlands are
converting their practices from intensive chemical - based farming to more natural based
organic farms. This scenario occurs thus relating to the increasing environmental problems of
chemical - based practices due to pollution of chemical leaching to its surrounding natural
resources and also the unsustainable state of its soil quality. In Sarawak, organic farming
practices have been applied in many farms but many of these farms are not certified or have
not applied to be certified as a fully organic farms, still these are in the minority compared to
other non - organic practices such as intensive chemical - based farming and the traditional
shifting agriculture that are also more known to the general public. This study tries to
illustrate the existence of organic farms, particularly in the Serian area, and compare the
general sustainability factors of these farms to the adjacent intensive chemical - based
farming. Common soil parameters for assessing soil quality and fertility namely soil texture,
X
soil reaction (pH) and soil organic matter content are used in the search for comparing the soil
status in both fanning practices. As expected, the farms that employ organic practices are
found to have better soil conditions than the chemical - based farms that seem to be ailing in
their soil health status compared to the secondary forest soils in the area. The sustainability of
both fanning practices are also discussed with particular reference to the impact of the
practices to the environment. Overall, it was concluded that sustainable agriculture which
includes organic farming practices is more considerate to the environment as a whole and it
also implies far longer cultivation period in any fain land thus provides the choice of not
having to worry about opening and destroying more precious virgin forests.
Keywords: Agriculture, sustainable agricultural practices, intensive chemical -
based farming, environmental problems, organic farming, longer cultivation period,
soil conditions.
R1
ABSTRAK
Pertanian telah memainkan peranan yang utama dalam pembangunan Malaysia
moden sehingga menghasilkan negara sebagai pengeluar utama minyak sawit dan ketiga
terbesar getah semulajadi dunia. Pertanian terus menjadi penyumbang yang penting bagi
ekonomi negara. Pada tahun 2003, sektor pertanian telah mencatat pertumbuhan sebanyak
5.5 peratus dibelakang sektor pembuatan dan sektor servis berdasarkan kepentingan. Dalam
tahun 2004, kerajaan Malaysia telah mengisytiharkan bahawa sektor pertanian menjadi
tonggak ketiga dalam jentera pertumbuhan negara. Berikutan status pertanian yang
menggalakkan ini, ladang moden dan berskala besar adalah digalakkan dengan meluasnya
untuk diaplikasi oleh peladang yang sedia ada dan juga untuk ladang-ladang baru. Dalam
keadaan yang `tergila-gilakan' pertanian meningkatkan kebimbangan terhadap kearifan
dalam membuka lebih banyak kawasan pertanian baru terutama untuk ladang besar-besaran
yang mono-tanaman seperti kelapa sawit, atau untuk mengekalkan keadaan semulajadi
kawasan yang belum diteroka. Keputusan yang salah akan menimbulkan masalah yang tak
kelihatan seperti keadaan kualiti tanah yang merosot. Maka amalan pertanian yang lebih
mampan adalah digalakkan untuk diaplikasikan dalam ladang yang luas akan membantu
dalam mengurangkan masalah berkaitan dengan keadaan tanah dan juga pencemaran.
Sekarang,, amalan pertanian organik telah meningkat menjadi satu trend baru untuk
mencapai sistem pertanian mampan dalam negara. Ladnag-ladang seperti di Cameron
Highlands beransur-ansur menukar amalan pertanian mereka dari pertanian menggunakan
bahan kimia yang intensif ke ladang organik yang lebih berdasarkan bahan semulajadi.
Senario perubahan ini adalah didorong oleh meningkatnya masalah alam sekitar akibat
penggunaan bahan kimia yang menyebabkan pencemaran bahan kimia yang larut lesap ke
persekitaran sumber-sumber alam semulajadi dan juga kedaan kualiti tanah yang tidak
mampan. Di Sarawak, amalan penanaman organik telah di guna pakai di banyak ladang-
ladang tetapi kebanyakkannya adalah belum beriktiraf atau belum memohon pengiktirafan
sebagai ladang organik sepenuhnya, akan tetapi ladang amalan organik adalah minoriti jika
X11
dibandingkan dengan ladang bukan amalan organik seperti ladang menggunakan bahan
kimia dan juga amalan tradisional seperti pertanian pindah di mana amalan-amalan ini lebih
dikenali umum. Kajian ini cuba untuk menunjukkan kewujudan ladang-ladang organik
terutamanya di kawasan Serian dan membandingkanfaktor kemampanan asas ladang-ladang
ini seiring dengan penanaman berdasarkan bahan kimia. Parameter umum untuk mengetahui
kualiti dan kesuburan tanah adalah tekstur tanah, reaksi tanah (pH) dan kandungan bahan
organik tanah telah digunakan untuk membandingkan status tanah dalam kedua-dua amalan
pertanian. Seperti yang dijangkakan, ladang yang organik mempunyai keadaan tanah yang
lebih baik dari ladang menggunakan bahan kimia iaitu mempunyai status kesihatan tanah
yang semakin merosot dibandingkan dengan keadaan status tanah di hutan sekunder
berdekatan. Kemampanan kedua-dua amalan pertanian juga dibincangkan dengan merujuk
lebih pada impak amalan pertanian tersebut terhadap alam sekitar. Secara keseluruhannya,
disimpulkan bahawa pertanian mampan yang merangkumi amalan perladangan organik dan
semulajadi adalah lebih bertimbang rasa pada alam sekitar serta memberikan jangka masa
penanaman yang lebih panjang akibat pemeliharaan kualiti tanahnya dan ini mewujudkan
ruang pilihan untuk tidak perlu membuka dan memusnahkan lebih banyak lagi hutan dara
yang amat berharga.
Kata kunci: Pertanian, amalan pertanian mampan, pertanian berasaskan bahan kimia
intensif, masalah alam sekitar, perladangan organik, masa penanaman lebih panjang,
keadaan tanah.
Xlii
CHAPTER 1- Introduction
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Increasing interest in sustainable agriculture recently has brought renewed
attention to soil resources as the soil quality currently is facing degradation.
Sustainable agriculture seeks to maintain the quality of the soil by recycling
intensively organic materials such as animal wastes and crop residues as soil
conditioners and biofertilizers (CAP and SAM, 1996). As chemical use is phased off,
there is an increase use of cover crops and green manure, crop rotation, conservation
tillage and biological control of pests.
1.1 Organic farming and Intensive farming
The present dominant model of intensive chemical-based farming system, also
known as Green Revolution system, may have succeeded in increasing the yield
production of rice and other crops for quite some time. But this promising velocity is
short lived as it has a trend of declining yield productivity through time that showed
this is a non-sustainable system (CAP and SAM, 1996).
Issues arise also on its adverse ecological and health effects such as impacts
on the environment, on water quality, soil fertility, pest outbreak, food safety and
farmers' health. Due to these occurrences of problems, there is a need to look for
sustainable systems of agriculture that are ecologically sound and which can also be
economically viable that can be adopted and practised in the current scene of
agricultural activities in Malaysia generally and in Sarawak particularly.
I
Organic farming refers to an agricultural production system whereby various
kinds of agricultural products are produced organically, including produce, grains,
meat, dairy, eggs, flowers, processed food products and fibers such as cotton. Organic
farming management relies on developing biological diversity in the field to disrupt
habitat for pest organisms, and the purposeful maintenance and replenishment of soil
fertility.
Organic farming is born from the idea that a healthy environment significantly
benefits crops and the health of those consuming them. In addition, organic practices
are also viable in the long term, since they are efficient in their use of resources, and
do not damage the environment and local communities like large scale chemical-
based farming does. Organic farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides or
fertilizers. Some of the essential characteristics of organic systems include:
(i) Design and implementation of an "organic system plan" that describes
the practices used in producing crops and livestock products;
(ii) A detailed record keeping system that tracks all products from the field
to point of sale; and
(iii) Maintenance of buffer zones to prevent inadvertent contamination
from adjacent conventional fields/ farming.
The government's policy towards agriculture focuses on increasing
productions in order to achieve food self-sufficiency and to develop exports in an
efficient and competitive manner. For the crops sector, this effectively means
expansion and/or intensification of cultivation, resulting in an increased need for and
a more efficient use of agricultural inputs (FAO, 2004). But during the past two
2
CHAPTER 1- Introduction
decades, increasing attention has been paid to the adverse environmental impact of
both the under use and the over use of agricultural inputs. The efficient use of the
inputs whether from organic, synthetically made or from other sources, involves the
shared responsibility of many segments of society, including international
organizations, governments, industries, agricultural research and advisory bodies,
traders and farmers.
1.2 Justification
1.2.1 Significance of study
In Serian, as the agricultural activities were amongst the major way of
economic income especially in the out skirt of the town and also in rural areas, it is
important to assess what sort of agricultural practices they were implementing.
Although many of the farmers do have acceptable knowledge in managing a farm of
their own, increasing pollution and unsustainable problems recently related to rural
ways of agricultural practices give the idea of doing survey for süstainability of
agriculture, particularly in the study area. For example shifting cultivation is found no
longer sustainable due to the subsequent decrease of fallow period (Nye and
Greenland, 1960). This could indicate that shortage of lands due to decreasing
availability of fertile lands and/ or competitions with other conflicting land use which
are forcing the farmers to shorten the fallow period instead of allowing the lands to
recharge fully their nutrient availability.
The above difficulties may lead the farmers to shift towards chemical - based
farming which promises hefty yield return in the shortest time although the
3
CHAPTER 1- Introduction
detrimental effects of it in the long run is already known to some. Thus, this study
attempt to elucidate some issues regarding the dissimilarity of both organically
practiced farms and the chemical - based farming.
1.3 Objectives
This study concentrated on the evaluation of the sustainability of the farming
practices in the study area in relation to its current soil status from two types of
vegetable farming practices. Different vegetable farms in the study area were chosen
to represent the two farming practices carried out in the area. The main objectives of
the study are:
" to ascertain current types of agricultural practices in the area
" to evaluate the current status of soil quality through soil texture, soil reaction
and soil organic matter parameter
" to compare the soil quality status between organic and chemical - based
agricultural practices
" to study the relationship between the agricultural practices on the soil quality
" to document crop of choice by the farmers of both practices
" to discuss the sustainability of the two focus agricultural practices
This evaluation would elucidate whether such farming practices of agriculture have
benefited the soil or not.
4
Pusat Khldmat MaklumatAkademlk UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Malaysian Settings
CHAPTER 2- Literature Review
Malaysia has a total land area of 339 733 km2, consisting of two geographical
regions consists of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. These regions are
separated by about 640 km of open sea that is the South China Sea. Their climatic and
agro-ecological environments are somewhat different despite their belonging to the
same warm humid tropics classification.
Malaysia characteristically experiences heavy rainfall (2 540 mm per annum
and above), average daily temperatures of 21-32 °C in the coastal areas and 13 - 27
°C in the highlands, and a humidity averaging about 85 percent. The seasonal
variation in solar radiation is low, resulting in an annual difference in day length of
only two minutes along the equator and 49 minutes in northern regions. In
consequence, there is a year round day length of 12.5 hours (Nieuwolt, 1982).
About 72 percent of Malaysian soils are Ultisols and Oxisols, Which are acidic
and highly weathered (International Board for Soil Research and Management -
IBSRAM, 1985). This has implications for phosphate fertilizer use due to fixation.
This problem is dealt with through the biennial addition of about two to four tonne per
ha of limestone (Shamshuddin et al., 1992). Figure 1 showed the major soil groups of
Malaysia.
The major regions have similar rainfall patterns, lengths of growing period and
thermal patterns during the growing season. There are, however, exceptions in certain
highland areas such as the Cameron Highlands in Pahang, where crops such as tea and
5
strawberries that do well in cool environments, are grown. There is a broad spectrum
of crops grown throughout the country but the cultivation of crops in terms of area
and production vary from state to state depending on the crops' suitability to local
conditions.
2.2 Agro-ecological Zones (AEZ) of East Malaysia
East Malaysia consists of two states: Sarawak (123 466 J) in the southwest
and Sabah (73 711 km) in the northeast. The total arable land areas of Sarawak and
Sabah are of 5.31 and 2.15 million hectares, respectively. The mean annual rainfall in
Sarawak is between 2 500 and 5 000 mm, and is fairly well distributed, with no month
below 100 mm (Andriesse, 1968). Similar rainfall conditions existed in Sabah, which
is moist and wet throughout the year, especially towards the interior.
As the research was done in Sarawak, further discussion on local AEZ is
reviewed. Sarawak's AEZ's are shown in Figure 2. They comprised of twelve classes.
The characteristics of the AEZ's and the soils of Sarawak, including their agricultural
suitability, are summarized in Table 1.
2.3 Agriculture in Malaysia
Agriculture has played a vital role in the development of modem Malaysia and
continues to make a significant contribution to the national economy. The plantation
sector, especially oil-palm, still leads the world in terms of vegetable oil production,
research and development. Malaysian agricultural production consists of commodity
6
CHAPTER 2- Literature Review
tree crops (mainly for export), rice and livestock (mainly for domestic consumption),
and fruits and vegetables (both export and domestic consumption).
Malaysia's agriculture sector was accorded renewed and extra importance by
the government after the economic crisis of 1997, with a particular drive to reduce the
import of food commodities. The balance of trade in the food sector in 2001 was RM
6.1 billion (Economic Planning Unit, 2001). In the year 2002, Malaysia's import and
export of food was RM 13 billion and RM 7 billion, respectively. This represented an
import deficit bill of RM 6 billion. Meeting the challenge of enhanced and more
efficient agricultural production was one of the primary objectives for increasing the
exports and reducing the imports of agricultural commodities. Table 2, is showing the
increasing total of agricultural production according to commodity and year.
7
CHAPTER 2- Literature Review
106° 1140
r6
ýý?
4°
/
ý]
I nun. vi- M -^s-....
ýý
.., .r E
106°
,
ý:. Ao
ý, *
ý 'ýý _.
ýJiý
114° Original scale 1: 5 million Source: Wan Abu Bakar, N. M. (2003).
Figure 1: Dominant soil map of Malaysia.
Legend:
I Coastal organic plains Inland organic plains Saline clay plains Lower ri%tee zone Upper riverine zone Undulatirr9hilly sedimentary
I Igneous hiilgountainous Mountainous Dissecteldarst Steep mountainous sedimentary Steep very high mcuntainous Freshwater
I 4
Source: Department of Agriculture, Sarawak (2002).
Figure 2: Agro-ecological regions of Sarawak.
At - Ferric Acnsois Ah - Hurrtic Apibds Ao - Orthic Aaiseb Bf - Ferralýc Cam6isols Fr - Rhodc Ferralsds Gd - Dystric Gleysds C Go - Eutnc Gleysols I- lithosols Je - Eutnc Fkmsols
ý Lk - Calcic Luvnab k
Nd - Drstnc Ndosols Lo - I°dL° Od - Pyysstnc Hmtosob Pg - G1epc Podzols Oa - Abc Arenosols Re - Eutnc Regosds
4°
8
CHAPTER 2- Literature Review
Table 1: Summary of the Characteristics of the Agro Ecological Zones (AEZ) of Sarawak
Terrain Dominant Nat"
Slope Soil type Altitude Climate ýý Yrrlýxted Dry Lnd Tree crop
1 Coastal Alluvio-marine 0- 6° Thionic 0-30 Moist to Peat, swamp, Marginal to Marginal Marginal marshy and marine Histosols, ma. s. 1. wet forest not suitable plains plains Fluvisols
2 Inland Alluvio organic 0- 6° Histosols 0- 30 Moist to Peat, swamp, Marginal Marginal Marginal marshy plains ma. s. l. wet forest, marsh after plains reclamation
3 Saline clay Alluvio -marine 0- 6° Gleysols, 0- 30 Moist to Mangrove Good - Good - Moderate plains clay plains Thionic ma. s. l. wet and swamp moderate marginal
Histosols forest
4 Lower Alluvio plain 0-6* Fluvisols, 0- 500 Very wet - Riverine Very good Good - Good - riverine zonecomplex Oxisols, ma. s. l. wet and forest moderate moderate
Podzols moist (Marginal to not suitable on Podzols)
5 Upper Alluvio- 0- 6° Fluvisols, 500 -1 000 Temperate, Riverine Very good Good - Moderate - riverine zonecolluvial valley Gleysols, ma. s. l. moist-wet mountainous- moderate moderate good
complex Acrisols forest
6 Undulating Shale and and hilly sandstone sedimentary hillrocky and
hilly slopes
6- 25° Acrisols, 0- 150 Moist - wet Dipterocarp Moderate - Good - Good - Luvisols, ma. s. 1. mixed hill unsuitable moderate moderate Podzols forest
7 Igneous hillyIgneous hilly -6- 25° Oxisols, 150 - 900 Very wet, Mixed Generally Good - Good - and mountainous Acrisols, ma. s. l. moist -wet, dipterocarp unsuitable marginal moderate mountainous uplands Lithosols/ temperate hill forest
Regosols
8 MountainousSandstone and 25 - 330 Acrisols 150 - 300 Wet - very Mixed Unsuitable Unsuitable Marginal - sedimentary shale and ma. s. l. wet dipterocarp unsuitable
mountainous Lithosols/ hill forest Regosols
9 Dissected Limestone >330 Cambisols, 30 - 300 Wet - very Mixed Unsuitable Unsuitable Marginal - Karst mountainous Lithosols/ ma. s. l. wet dipterocarp unsuitable
Regosols hill forest
10 Steep Sandstone and >330 Acrisols, 300 - 900 Very wet, Mixed Unsuitable Unsuitable marginal - mountainous shale steep Lithosolg/ ma. s. l. temperate dipterocarp unsuitable sedimentary mountainous Regosols hill forest
I1 Steep very Shale and >331 Lithosols/ 900 -1525 Very wet - Mixed Unsuitable Unsuitable Generally high sandstone steep Regosols ma. s. l. moist - wet dipterocarp unsuitable mountainous mountainous hill forest
Sources: Department of Development (1995), Department of Agriculture, Sarawak (2002) and Panabokke(1979).
9
CHAPTER 2- Literature Review
Table 2: Agricultural Production ('000 tonnes), 1995 and 2000, Forecast to 2005
Commodity 1995 2000 2005
Rubber 1 089 616 560
Crude Palm Oil 7 811 10 840 12 416
Cocoa 131 70 115
Pepper 13 24 30
Pineapple 140 184 264
Tobacco 10 11 15
Paddy 2 127 2 235 2 813
Fruits' 1 020 1 376 1982
Vegetables' 718 1019 1390
Coconut2 1 389 550 824 T_ Refers to commercial cultivation. 2 Measured in million units. Source: Economic Planning Unit (2001) -Eight Malaysia Plan, 2001-2005.
The government formulated a strategic agricultural development master plan,
referred to as The Third National Agricultural Policy or NAP3 for 1998 - 2010
(Ministry of Agriculture, 1999). The projected sales target for food crops between the
years 2001 to 2005 was set at RM 27 billion. The projected increases. in agricultural
production to the year 2005 for some crops are shown in Table 2 (Economic Planning
Unit, 2001). An inevitable result of this policy for enhanced agricultural growth is the
expansion and/ or further intensification of land use for agriculture. Between 1995
and 2000, agricultural land use increased from about 5.7 million hectares to about 6.0
million hectares.
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