KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — Ancom Crop Care Sdn Bhd (ACC) nano bio stimulant Boom Flower and baja siam fertiliser has delivered promising results which the company believes will help Malaysia achieve self-sufficiency levels (SSL).

Its chief operations officer (COO) Anthony Tan told Malay Mail that some paddy fields have had yields as high as 12 tonnes per hectare when the national average is only around 3.5 tonnes per hectare.

"Countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines India and Bangladesh have been using Boom Flower for their rice fields and there is a significantly increased yield of at least 15 per cent,” he said.

ACC had also commissioned the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) to perform a few self-efficacy trials on Boom Flower and found impressive results, he added.

"Boom Flower with 100 per cent fertiliser achieved 8.07 tonnes per hectare compared to 100 per cent fertiliser treatment, which yields only 7.31 tonnes per hectare,” he said.

In order for the country to achieve SSL, he said that the national average yield of 3.5 tonnes of paddy per hectare needs to increase to at least 5.8 tonnes per hectare.

"So right now we are only at 60 per cent SSL,” he said.

Another option to look into would be to plant hybrid rice, he added.

"We have worked with one hybrid rice producer in China for the Philippines’ market and we noticed the average yield of paddy has improved by 100 per cent by planting hybrid rice.

"Normal inbred rice produces an average yield of 3.5 tonnes per hectare and with hybrid rice they could get 7 tonnes per hectare,” he said.

ACC head of sales Hii Yii Seng added that the attitude of farmers was important as those who had a more proactive and aggressive approach towards farming had higher yields.

For example, there were those who only treated plants when they found pests or diseases, but those who had better success treated plants even before finding such issues, he explained.

"We have some aggressive Malay farmers working with our rice stimulants and fertiliser packages and they could get as high as eight to 12 tonnes per hectare.

"With the right attitude and government support, I believe Malaysia boleh!” he said.

In 2020, Mardi Corporation Sdn Bhd (MardiCorp) said it plans to use ACC’s Boom Flower which it has identified as an effective means to boost agricultural yield, especially on paddy.

This is after research and observation conducted by MardiCorp’s scientist on the effect of Boom Flower on paddy for four plating seasons, it said.