...green field of gold vidly i can remember the good old times when we were still kids going to catch keli, puyu and sepat at kak midah's family bendang back in her kampung in titi gantung, bota, perak. at the time when emak was still teaching, kak midah helped out with the house chores and looked after all 5 of us boys. almost once every month, arwah abah will take the whole family to go for a picnic at teluk batik during weekends. on the way there, we would sometimes stop by to visit kak midah's parents. if the visit coincided with the planting season...we, the city boys will also rolled up our sleeves and turun bendang. it was fun...except for the time when you found out that your whole body had turned into a magnet attracting hundreds (i'm being over-exaggerating here) of blood-sucking leeches! 
...kenal tak apa ni? inilah padi. dari padi baru jadi beras. bila beras dimasak barulah jadi nasi... fast forward 30 odd years later, i am now standing beside a plot of bendang own by one of the paddy farmers we're featuring in the program. by talking to them you just have to admire their will and determination to grow paddy. they are not born rich. they did not inherit from their parents. they've made it thru sheer perseverance. starting out they had to hold 2-3 jobs to meet ends meet. the money they got from working in factory is what they paid for their daily necessities. the money they got from farming, every single sen they re-invest to buy more paddy plots. from single plot to what they have right now. generally, paddy farming has gone thru and changed a lot since those days of trapping fish and of a battle with the leeches. in primary school, we were then taught that the state of kedah is the rice bowl of our country. well not anymore. selangor is now the proud state holding the title...
few weeks later can't resist to bring my family to witness this miraculous industry. i want them especially the kids to see where the rice that they eat everyday comes from. how does it look like before they end up on the plate. they won't learn this at school... remember the old saying that goes something like "sebutir nasi nilainya sama dengan setitik peluh petani"? it used to be a back breaking labour intensive job...but now you will not find a single buffalo ploughing the plot except for many different types of hi-tech machineries taking over the many tasks in the process of producing our staple diet. from the task of planting the seeds up to when harvesting the 'white gold'...now everything is done using modern and time saving machines. the industry has changed, the landscape has also changed. in the near future, kids in art class will draw lorries and tractors working in paddy field...replacing the mighty buffalo for good.
this area is not solely dominated by paddy fields. farmers here also grow other crops such as various vegies, fruits, corns and many others. we had a field day shopping here especially the elusive 'buah sukun'. the days of focusing on single type of crops are over. the key word in agriculture now is 'integrated'. the more things you grow the more money you will make as you are not dependent on a single source of income. the fertility of the soil is also better if you implement crop rotation as different crop use different source of minerals. if you care to look further, you will also see 'swiflet's hotels' making their presence here. 
the future looks very promising indeed for these farmers. it is such a vital sector for our country as food is becoming more and more expansive with the world population boom. the white gold will be even more valueable than black gold in the future. the farmers is doing an honest job as they reap what they actually sow. they can now truly make a very decent living out of it. beats working in factories. better (i think) than what i'm doing back in the office (!).
good for them and good for us too. Insya Allah, berbudilah pada tanah...
the official agro-xplorasi profile
muhammad rashid mohd hassan
zainuddin sudar
Sektor penanaman padi merupakan antara sektor pertanian terpenting bagi negara seperti Malaysia di mana beras merupakan makanan ruji harian penduduknya.
Usaha pihak Kementerian untuk mentransformasikan sektor ini kepada ciri-ciri yang lebih moden telah disambut oleh golongan muda seperti kedua-dua usahawan penanaman padi yang berjaya ini. Berbekalkan kerjasama yang rapat di antara pihak Kementerian dan Jabatan dengan para pesawah telah menyaksikan peningkatan hasil pengeluaran padi yang amat ketara sehingga membolehkan para pesawah di kawasan ini menikmati pendapatan purata bulanan sekurang-kurangnya RM2,000 setiap bulan.
Kesungguhan dan kegigihan seperti yang dipamerkan oleh kedua-dua pesawah moden ini telah membolehkan mereka kini meninggalkan terus pekerjaan mereka di kilang-kilang berhampiran dan menumpukan sepenuh perhatian kepada petak-petak sawah yang mereka miliki.
Pengenalan benih-benih padi yang lebih bermutu tinggi dan penggunaan secara intensif pelbagai jentera serta mesin moden yang kini mendominasi lanskap sawah padi bermula dari peringkat menabur benih hingga ke proses menuai juga telah membantu melonjakkan pencapaian mereka di dalam sektor ini sehingga kedua-duanya pernah dinobatkan oleh Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani sebagai penerima Anugerah Pesawah Cemerlang (Muhammad Rashid bagi tahun 2007 dan Zainuddin bagi tahun 2010).
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