Major Crops

       Field crops, which accounted for 63 percent of agricultural output in 1988, increased at an annual average rate of 7 percent between 1961 and 1988. Rice is the principal crop, representing in the 1987/1988 year approximately 32.3 percent of the cultivated area. In the years 1983 to 1988 agricultural production was still dominate by seven major crops : rice, topioca, rubber, maize, sugar-cane, mungbeans and tobacco leaves, most of which were grown primarily for export. These crops accounted for 80 percent of the total cultivated area, 72 percent of the total value of agricultural output and 94 percent of total agricultural export in 1988.

            Since 1970 the increase in crop production have come from both the expansion of cultivated areas and improvements in yields. In response to high agricultural prices, the total area planted has continued to increase. Furthermore, farmers are switching from crops with relatively low returns per hectare to those with higher earnings. Performance, however, varies considerably: sugar-cane, rubber and topioca yields have been increasing significantly, rice and maize yields growing slowly, and kenaf yield declining. The tend towards crop diversification continues in response to price incentives as the proportion of cropped area devoted to rice declines. The expansion of area planted in cassava was particularly rapid, from 84,576 hectares in 1979 to 158,064 hectares in 1988.

            In 1987/88, the total area planted rice amounted to 9.4 million hectares, producing 17.7 million tons of rice. Average paddy yield has remained at a level of 1,845.2 kgs. per hectare during the past five years. However, the volume of rice exports increased from almost 1.6 million tons in 1978 to 5.1 million tons in 1988.

            Although the national average rice yield has remained low, a recent trend clearly indicates certain structural changes in production. At present, rice cultivation is undertaken in intensive irrigated areas, wet-season irrigated areas, and rainfed areas. Intensive irrigated areas, which enavle farmers to produce at least two crops a year, increased phenomenally from 407,488 hectares in 1977/78 to 747,480 hectares in 1987/88. Furthermore, there is ample evidence that yield on both intensive and wet-season irrigated areas have risen sharply during the past five years. About two million hectares of paddy land now benefit from wet-season flood control to keep fields free of excess water which would damage crops. Nevertheless, the remaining six million hectares represent rice production in rainfed areas where limited access to modern technology and inputs results in low yields.

            In the 1987/88 season, the cultivated area was about 9.8 million hectares, yielding about 17.73 million tons compared to 16.92 million tons in 1982/83, representing an increase of 4.43 percent.