Geography

Malaysia is in Southeast Asia consisting of two regions separated by 650 Km of South China Sea and comprises of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. Malaysia occupies a total area of 330345 Sq.Km. with the highest elevation of 4094 m of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. The western region has Thailand in its north, Indonesia in south (Sumatra separated by Strait of Malacca) and South-China Sea in the east. The eastern region has the same sea in its west, Indonesia (Borneo) in the south. The western region can be traced between the latitudes of 10’ to 5° N and longitudes of 111° to 115°E, while the eastern region lies between the latitudes of 3° 5’ to 0° 30’N and longitudes of 119° to 122° East Malaysia has a long coastline measuring 1930 Km in the peninsula and 2253 Km in Sarawak and Sabah.

Population and land use

The total population is 32.67 Million, as per Population Reference Bureau (2021), of which about 21% are involved in agriculture although the rural population is estimated to be 22.8%, the remaining 77.2% live in cities and towns. The land scape consists of broad plains mountain ranges, spectacular limestone out crops and caves, swamps, sandy beaches and meandering towers.

Climate and rainfall

Malaysia lies entirely in the equatorial zone. The climate is governed by the region of northeast and southwest monsoons. The northeast monsoon blows from approximately October till March and is responsible for the heavy rains which hit the east coast of the peninsula and frequently cause widespread floods. The south-west monsoon between May and September is a drier period for the whole country. The period between these two monsoons is marked by heavy rainfall. The average temperature throughout the year is very stable, 33°C and the mean annual rainfall is 3200 mm.

Food and agriculture

The agriculture sector contributed 7.4% (RM99.5 billion) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020. Oil palm was the major contributor to the GDP of agriculture sector in 2020 at 37.1% followed by other agriculture (27.9%), livestock (16.1%), fishing (11.2%), forestry & logging (5.2%) and rubber (2.5%). Exports of agriculture sector in 2018 amounted to RM114,451 million as compared to RM126,492 million in 2017, decreased by 9.5%. Total imports were valued at RM93,313 million as compared to 2017 at RM95,222 million with a decline of 2.0%. The trade balance of this sector showed a decrease of 32.4% from RM 31,269 million in 2017 to RM21,138 million in 2018. The production of paddy rose 2.7% from 2,570.5 thousand tonnes to 2,639.9 thousand tonnes in 2018. Meanwhile, the production of main commodity crops namely natural rubber and fresh fruit bunches (oil palm), declined by 18.5 and 3.3% respectively as compared to the previous. The number of ducks increased 7.8% to 10.0 million in 2018 followed by chicken (6.4%) and goat (3.6%). Meanwhile, the number of both sheep and swine decreased by 0.5 and 0.4%, respectively. Total marine fish landings in 2018 was 1,476.9 thousand tonnes, rose by 0.8% against 1,465.1 thousand tonnes in 2017. Production of freshwater aquaculture also showed an increase of 3.1%. However, the production of brackish water aquaculture has decreased by 10.3% to 290.9 thousand tonnes. Employed persons in the agriculture sector recorded 1,570.3 thousand persons in 2018 and this sector was dominated by males at 77.7% (1,220.6 thousand persons). Out of the total, the number of non-citizens employed persons was 492.4 thousand persons.

Water resources management

The average annual water resources on a total land mass of 330,000 Sq.Km. amounts to 990 Bm3. Out of which, 360 Mm3, or 36% returns to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration, 566 Bm3, or 57% appear as surface runoff and the remaining 64 Bm3, or 7% go to the recharge of groundwater. Of the total 566 Bm3 of surface runoff, 147 Bm3 are found in Peninsular Malaysia, 113 Bm3 in Sabah and 306 Bm3 in Sarawak. The largest Malaysian rivers are in Sarawak and Sabah. The longest are the Rejang in Sarawak (565 Km) and the Kinabatangan in Sabah (563 Km).

Irrigation and drainage

In Malaysia, the potential irrigable area accounts for about 0.272 mha. Since the formation of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage in 1932, irrigated areas for paddy cultivation has progressively increased. By the year 1960, about 200 000 ha had been developed, the emphasis then being to supplement rainfall for single crop cultivation. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s, the advent of double cropping of rice cultivation required the development of adequate water resources for the off season crops. During the 1980’s, the priority for irrigation took a new dimension with the need to rationalize rice cultivation relevant to production cost and profit considerations. The government evolved a policy to confine irrigation development to the eight large irrigated areas in the country, designated as granary areas totaling 210 500 ha and comprising the irrigated areas of Muda, Kada, Seberang Perai, Trans Perk, Northwest Selangor, Kerian-Sungai Manik, Besut and Kemasin-Semarak. Malaysia has over 932 irrigation schemes covering an area of 340 633 ha, comprising 8 granary schemes (210 500 ha), 74 mini-granary (29 500 ha) and 850 non-granary schemes (100 633 ha). The non- granary schemes are scattered all over the country and their sizes vary between 50 ha and 200 ha. In addition, there are also four new granary development which are IADA Rompin (2920 ha) and IADA Pekan (5322 ha) in Pahang, IADA Kota Belud (6345 ha) in Sabah and IADA Batang Lupar (1121 ha) in Sarawak that bring the total of 12 granary scheme in Malaysia.

Water policies

The Government is primarily responsible for the planning, development and management of water resources projects in the country. For this purpose, there are a number of government departments and agencies each responsible for a particular component or function related to water resources but there is no single agency entrusted with the overall responsibility of holistic planning and management. For example, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage is responsible for the implementation of irrigation and drainage works, the Water Supply Department for domestic and industrial water supply and Department of Environment for water pollution control. Conflicts in water resources management such as allocation of water rights, flood management, pollution control, environmental preservation, etc are resolved through inter-agency coordination and consultation. The primary role of water resources management is expected to come from the state governments and their agencies since ownership and administration of water is a state matter under the Federal Constitution. There are weaknesses in the current legal and institutional framework for the integrated planning and management of water resources both at the state and federal levels. There is a pressing need to improve the water use efficiency of all irrigation projects in the country. At present, the irrigation efficiency is about 50% for the larger schemes while some of the smaller schemes may be operating at an efficiency of less than 40%.

ICID and National Committee

Malaysian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (MANCID) joined ICID in the year 1958 and has played an active role in the activities of the Commission. Mr. Shahrizaila bin Abdullah (1993-96) and Dato’ Ir. Hj. Keizrul bin Abdullah (2002- 05) from MANCID were past Presidents of ICID. Mr. J.G. Daniel (1975-78), Mr Shahrizaila bin Abdullah (1988-91) and Ir. Mohd. Azhari bin Ghazalli (2006-2009) were the Past Vice-Presidents of ICID. Currently Dato’ Ir Nor Hisham Bin Mohd Ghazali also as a Vice President until 2023. Malaysian National Committee hosted the 7th International Drainage Workshop in Penang in 1997 and 57th International Executive Council (IEC) meeting, 7th International Micro Irrigation Congress and 3rd Asian Regional Conference at Kuala Lumpur in September 2006. Malaysia National Committee can be contacted at mancidmalaysia@gmail.com 

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PDF Version [ Updated 29 July 2022 ]