Rice Bowl of Malaysia
Kedah Darul Aman has always been known as the “rice bowl” of Malaysia. It’s the largest producer of rice in the country, making up about one third of the 2-million-ton-a-year rice production of Malaysia.
Most of the rice fields in Kedah are in the north, around Alor Setar. In Sungai Petani, in the central region of Kedah, rice is cultivated on the plains of the Muda River. Here, farmers grow three crops of paddy a year.
A couple of months ago, the burning of paddy husk following the harvest caused smoky hazy conditions in these areas. Even driving on the highway was hazardous when the smoke gets blown across the highway. Today, that has changed. Like a phoenix, new rice plants have grown out of the ashes. The paddy fields are uniformly green now and make a picturesque panorama of a classical paddy field scene.
Green, green paddy fields of home.
There’s Gunung Jerai in the background.
As I drove on the Western Bypass around Sungai Petani, rubber small-holdings and durian orchards add to the flavour of the day.
Rubber trees in a small-holder’s plot.
Grand durian trees towering above the other fruit trees in the orchard. This was where I had fresh-from-the-orchard fruits during the fruit season earlier this year.
eye soothing sceneries
Hello chen, welcome.
Splendid isn’t it? I think it’s ur photography skills la.. I dun remember the fields looking so green n serene. Harvesting season will look even more beautiful!
oh gunung jerai.. the iconic range which can be seen from penang/langkawi islands
Looks really nice. As Malaysian producing own rice supply, I wonder why we continue consuming lower grade rice. A big difference what we got here in Singapore comparing back home.
Bernard, superb photography skill.
hoiling, not surprising. Even our top grade petrol are being exported, while we use lower grade petrol
SK, splendid indeed! They really were so green… that’s why i found them so scenic. just have to look for the right patch of heaven to look at.
but you’re right too, the camera does leave it’s trace since the chip makes some adjustment to colour saturation, white balance etc. e.g. the sony cybershot photo of the fruits in the next post… look very bright.
LM, iconic it is. jerai was the landmark for traders of ancient times.
hoiling, is the rice in Singapura better? imported from Thailand izzit?
yenjai, my camera did all the work. i just point and shoot.
so nice to see some greens…soothing to the eyes…sometimes i wish …life is not so ‘hurried’ for me..at least i got time to enjoy the beautiful morning scenery…now wat la..cars n jam n fumes got la…
eve, i wish you’all could see it in person. The paddy looks so silky as the gusts of wind blow gently on them. And the coconut trees swaying in the wind…. imagine that.
Hi there Bernard! You have brought back memories of a land I left behind for the ‘bright’ city lights of our capital city. I must say, I have been afraid to go back to the hometown (for the last 5 years) because the changes and ‘development’ always leaves me disillusioned and depressed. But this snippet of what Kedah is still is heartening. THanks!
Hello sheila, welcome here. I’m glad to be this part of paradise :-). “Development” has still been kind to SP. It’s still quite green here.