by BERNAMA / pic by BERNAMA

PADANG BESAR – It has been raining over the past few days and this brings relief to worried farmers whose padi fields have dried up due to the hot weather that hit the northern states of the peninsula.

For farmers in the northern part of Perlis which is located outside the Muda Agriculture Development Authority (Mada) territory, they rely entirely on rainwater as the main source of water for padi planting that is carried out once a year.

Senawi Salleh, 68, said he can now start the process of collecting water (paddy planting process) after three months of anxiously waiting for the rain.

“I can start the padi planting process when the rain starts to fall,” the Padang Melangit native told Bernama recently.

Senawi said as his two hectares of padi field is located quite far from the MADA authority, rainwater has become a primary water source to carry out padi planting and harvesting activities.

Sharing the same joy, Salleh Yaakob 69 from Chuping near here, hoped that it would rain frequently to enable the ploughing work to be carried out immediately.

“If it continues to rain, after ploughing, I can start the seed sowing process,” he said.

It is learnt that there are 11,654 hectares of paddy fields in the state that are located outside the MADA authority with most of the farmers cultivating the crop once a year and depending on rainwater as the main source of water.