Brunei is expected to multiply its rice production in the coming years in a bid to increase its rice self-sufficiency, according to Brunei newspapers on Sunday.

The Brunei Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources has identified an additional 4,906 hectares of agricultural land in Belait and Brunei-Muara, two of the total four districts in the country, to meet the target of raising rice self-sufficiency rate.

Brunei currently produced 982.9 tons of rice a year, merely 3.2 percent of the country's total rice consumption.

The ministry has been set to enhance the rate to 20 percent (about 6,000 tons a year) by 2010, and 60 percent (about 18,000 tons) at the end of 2015.

Brunei currently has 1,354 hectares of agricultural land in its 27 agricultural development areas, Brunei Industry and Primary Resources Minister Yahya Begawan Mudim said.

Brunei will achieve the targets mainly through improvements to infrastructure in the existing fields, use of high-yielding seeds that can be harvested biannually, and enforcement of training on farmers, Mudim said at the second day of the fifth session of Brunei's State Legislative Council.

Source: Xinhua