Gene-edited rice offers hope for Malaysian farmers
Local rice production can meet only 56.2% of demand, leaving country vulnerable to price shocks and supply disruptions
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (MNTV) – Malaysian scientists have developed a gene-edited rice variety resistant to bacterial blight, a crop disease that has severely impacted rice yields across the region for decades.
The breakthrough, reported by The Vibes, offers fresh hope to farmers battling the long-standing threat and marks a major advance in sustainable rice production.
The rice has shown promise in initial trials, with only 11% of leaves affected by blight, compared to conventional varieties. This innovation could be a game-changer for Malaysian farmers, who have struggled with dwindling yields and increasing disease outbreaks.
Malaysia is one of Asia’s highest per capita consumers of rice, but it does not grow enough of it. In 2023, per capita consumption was 76.7 kilograms per year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. However, local rice production can only meet 56.2% of local demand, leaving the country vulnerable to price shocks and supply disruptions.
For two years in a row, beginning in the 2023/24 season, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted Malaysia’s rice production would be below average, said Dr. Zulkifli Ahmad Seman, principal research officer at MARDI. “Our GE rice offers a potential solution to this problem.”
For paddy farmers like 57-year-old Puteh Hassan in Kedah, the worsening weather patterns and recurring disease outbreaks have made harvests increasingly uncertain. “There was one season we were badly hit by bacterial blight. We lost 60% of our paddy. When it strikes, there’s nothing inside the paddy husks… it’s empty,” she said.
As Puteh Hassan waits for a solution to her paddy field woes, she remains cautiously optimistic. “We need to have discussions first. It may not be suitable for our soil here or the costs may be high. But if it’s blight-resistant, we are willing to try,” she said.
Environmentalists, however, are cautious about embracing GE technology. “Just because we can do it doesn’t mean we should,” said Lim Li Ching, biosafety programme coordinator at the Third World Network. “We still need to assess these crops to check for unintended impacts. That’s the bare minimum.”
Lim warned that even seemingly minor edits could cause unintended effects at the molecular level. “We’re talking about making changes to the fundamental building blocks of life. We need to be careful,” she said.
Malaysia’s Biosafety Act 2007 governs genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but it is unclear whether GE crops, which do not contain foreign DNA, fall under the same regulations.
Dr. Mohd Waznu Adlyl, senior research officer at MARDI, said that GE crops are different from GMOs, which involve the introduction of foreign DNA. “GE crops are more like accelerated natural selection. We’re just speeding up the process,” he explained.
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