Soil and Water Management in Malaysia

1. Soil and Water Management in Malaysia Presented by Bee Khim Chim

2. Introduction Introduction • Southeast Asia (13 States and 3 Federal Territories) • land area of 336,745 km2 • Capital: Kuala Lumpur • separated by the South China Sea • Ethnic: Malay (54%), Chinese (25%), Indian (7.5%) and Bumiputra and others (13%) • Summer all the year and Monsoon season. • Mean daily temperature range from 21°C to 32°C in the low lands • humid tropical climate with heavy rainfall( 2500mm – 4000mm per year)

3. Introduction Malaysia Map

4. Malaysia Tourist Introduction • The tallest twin tower in the world • Height: • Antenna or spire 451.9 m (1,482.6 ft) • Roof 378.6 m (1,242.1 ft) • Top floor 375.0 m (1,230.3 ft) • Technical details: • Floor count 88 Floor area 395,000 m2 (4,252,000 sq ft) (Building 1 & 2) • Cost $ 1.6 billion • Tower Two are mostly available for lease to other companies. Such as: • IBM • Bloomberg • McKinsey & Co • Microsoft

5. Introduction Land Resources • Tropical Rain Forest occupies less than 60% of Malaysia’s land area • Total 4,010,933 ha are the potential areas suitable for crop • Major Crops: rubber, oil palm, paddy and coconut • Major Soil includes: acrisols, ferralsols, fluvisols, gleysols, luvisols, nitosols, lithosols, regosols, combisols and histosols. • Most extensive are lithosols, regosols and combisols • Peat and organic soils cover approximately 2,700,000 ha.

6. Introduction Agroforestry • Integration of forest species into existing agriculture land and animal husbandary • Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3) encourage the integration of forest trees with cultivation of food crops, rearing of livestock to maximize utilization and returns on the same piece of land. • have been developed in this country are direct interrow integration, block planting, perimeter or border planting, and hedge planting system.

7. Introduction Tree crop combination in Agroforestry System that are considered viable and still undergoing research

8. Introduction Mixed Farming • Malaysian Rubber Board, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), Farmers Organizations and Department of Agriculture (DOA), Forestry Department and Department of Veterinary Services introducing to farmers. • 85% of the exposed areas is drastically reduced to 45% in second year and completely covered at the end of the third year. • Benefit: • --Proven to elevate farm productivity and income in sustainable manner both during the immature and productive phase of growing rubber

9. Benefit Introduction • Continuous cultivation of short and medium- term crops can simultaneously introduce perennial fruit trees or pastures to support high stocking rates of ruminants or just simply poultry, apiculture or mushroom • several crops have been identified suitable to be integrated in immature oil palm • Saving labour cost up to 50% per hectare per year • Reducing weeding cost by 30-50% • Increase oil palm fresh fruit bunch by 6-30% • lower usage of chemical fertilizers and improvement of soil structure through addition of organic matter to the soil

10. Income Improvement of Some Mixed Farming Introduction

11. Use of Organic Waste and Organic Fertilizer Introduction • Most of the wastes from oil palm plantations such as dead fronds, empty fruit bunches are effectively recycled back into the plantation. • Chicken droppings are the most popularly used organic fertilizers in vegetable and fruit cultivations. • In rehabilitation of marginal land where problem soils such as tin tailings and sandy beach ridge soils exist, application of 20-40 kg of organic matter in the planting holes is a normal practice. • In the replanting of oil palm, zero burning is practiced in plantations where the felled trunks are cut into small pieces. • This technique also allows replanting process to proceed immediately after felling and shredding so that the length of time the surface soil is exposed is shortened

12. Introduction Water Resources • Rainfall generally occurs throughout the year • North-East and South-West monsoons • Average: 2,300mm • annual potential evaporation= 1,500mm • Total annual surface water resource=566,000million m3 • Groundwater resource =23,500 million m3 • Annual total consumptive use of water = 15,300 million m3

13. Introduction Showing major drainage and irrigation areas

14. Rice- Fish System Introduction Large-scale transect of the north Kerian irrigated area of Perak, Malaysia

15. Introduction Rice-Fish farming System • The rice-fish farming system is an old tradition practiced extensively in the North Kerian area of Perak, Peninsular Malaysia. • The area is an alluvial coastal floodplain and receives irrigated water from the Tasik Merah reservoir. • The soil is primarily clay with some acidity problems. • Rice is double-cropped and short-season; high-yielding rice varieties are used. • There are approximately 352 000 ha of ricefields in Peninsular Malaysia, out of which 120 000 ha (34 percent) have sufficient water depth (15-16 cm) for rice-fish system.

16. Introduction Description • Both systems, which are essentially trapping and ongrowing of wild fish, require little labour and material inputs. Fish enter with water from the irrigation canals. In the improved system, more trenches are added, sump ponds are deepened, manured and limed, and dikes are improved, which all require additional investment. • No supplementary feeding is provided. Fish obtain food from natural sources in the ricefields. The system fertility depends on rice fertilization which is applied twice during the growing season. Urea (46 percent N) and NPK (17.5-15.5-10.0) fertilizers are used at the rates of 56 and 112 kg/ha, respectively. To further increase productivity and food availability, liming of the sump pond (if required) and manuring (if available) should be done.

17. Introduction Description • Ricefield sizes vary from 0.81 to 1.42 ha. A sump pond, which can also be an unused well or burrow pit, ranging in size from 6.5 to 8.0 m diameter, is located at the lowest part of the field. Sump pond, which is cooler and has higher dissolved oxygen content, provides shelter for fish during periods of low water level. Perimeter trenches (0.25 m wide and 0.1 m deep) may be dug around the field to enable fish to move to and from the sump pond. These open trenches also act as feeding areas for fish to feed upon zooplankton especially during the fry and fingerling stages when zooplankton is important for early growth. Mud obtained from digging the trenches is used to strengthen the dikes (0.3 m high) around the field.

18. Introduction Transect of the north Kerian irrigated area of Perak, Malaysia, with all resource types of traditional and improved systems

19. Introduction Farm layout of traditional system

20. Introduction Material flow of an improved farm system

21. Introduction Rainfall Harvesting • In the past, majority of Malaysians in rural areas harvest rainfall for daily needs • RH was acceptable and the norm as many areas do not have piped water • Rural folks use simple and practical RH system • Benefit: • To harness good quality water resource now being wasted • To prevent groundwater depletion  • To augment the expensive piped water supply • To save expenditure on water  • To prevent soil erosion and urban flooding • Inexpensive and simple technology • Aids ecological conservation

22. Introduction Various type of Rainfall Harvesting System • Large Scale Systems • --Dams, Barrages, Tidal Gates, Reservoirs • Medium Scale Systems • -- Recreation pond, retention pond, water tank, wells, small reservoirs • Small Scale Systems • -- Rooftop rainfall harvesting system

23. Introduction Total Water Harvested and Monetary Saving • Total Rainfall Yield • = Roof Area X Drainage Coefficient (0.8) X Annual Rainfall • = 100 m2 X 0.8 X 2500mm per year • = 200,400 liters per year • Based on normal usage of 5 family members • = 5 X 400 liters • = 2000 liters per days • = 730,000 per years

24. Introduction Description

25. Introduction Description

26. References Introduction • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia • http://banktani.tripod.com/faridah.pdf • http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_33_3_07.pdf • http://www.skyshine.com.my/product.htm • http://www.icid.org/v_malaysia.pdf • http://www.icid.org/i_d_malaysia.pdf • http://www.usm.my/my/inventions/2003-p15.pdf • http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/counprof/malaysia.htm#2. • http://203.154.178.138/lc/cd/html/countryrep/malaysia/results.html • http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y1187e/y1187e18.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainfall_harvesting • http://www.waterwatchpenang.org/rainfall-harvesting-in-malaysia.html

27. THANK YOU Introduction