Paddy Gallery, Sekinchan
As a city gal, I never bothered my head about where the rice that I eat come from. The only thing I care about is the price per 10kg bag of rice. As long as it is within my budget, I am pleased.
Nonetheless, I have longed to visit Sekinchan, a fishing village that is also known for its paddy crops. I finally found the opportunity to visit Sekinchan, in the district of Kuala Selangor, upon being selected as a delegate in the Discover Selangor media familiarisation trip.
It turned out that our January trip was untimely as the paddy had already been harvested in December. Even so, a visit to Paddy Gallery was most fruitful, giving me the chance to learn the theory of how rice is planted.
Paddy Gallery is owned by PLS Group. In the early days, the company was first established as a rice transporter, but today it has diversified to become a wholesale supplier of rice, grains trading, cultivation and sale of rice seedlings as well as transplanting rice services, distribution of fertilisers and pesticides, among numerous other services.
Visitors to Paddy Gallery are treated to a video presentation as well as a short talk by one of the staff, to better explain the entire process of how rice comes to be. Paddy Gallery, Malaysia’s first ever, is also home to a good collection of artifacts and items related to paddy planting and the rice industry in general.
If you plan a visit to Sekinchan, do take note that planting season is February and August. Harvesting is only done after 110 days of planting the transplanting mats. So, I reckon the best time to visit the village sould be around June and December, just before harvesting, using a rice combine harvester. The golden fields would be such a sight to behold!
By the way, did you know that using the modern method of a rice transplanter, 1.2 hectares of land can be planted with 300 pieces of transplanting mats in just 2.5 hours. This is a vast improvement from the manual planting of rice, which would require eight workers over two days.
Rice is the staple food in Southeast Asia. Do you know how long it would take an adult to consume one ton of rice at two meals a day, assuming its serving size is 70g each? The answer is 19 years! If the rice was consumed three times a day at the same serving size, it would take 13 years.
See how much knowledge I gained after a visit to Paddy Gallery in just one morning? You should make your way there, too!
Paddy Gallery
Add: Lot 9990, Jalan Tali Air 5, Ban 2, 45400 Sekinchan, Selangor.
Tel: 016-205 6558
Opening hours: 9am – 5.30pm
Admission: RM5 per person (kids under 95cm free of charge)
Website: Paddy Gallery
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I’m always heard about sekichan. But never go there before. really want to visit
Do you know what? The only reason I know anything about rice is because my kids had a school trip to this place once! It was an amazing learning experience for them, and it definitely made them appreciate this staple food of ours.
You will start to treat and respect rice better once you have learned the fact about rice. Hehe
interesting, i saw something similar to this at an agriculture expo in KL. so nice to know how our rice come about.
Yes I think we should visit this gallery to understand more about paddy and also don’t waste rice.
never been sekinchan yet ! I wish to visit this paddy gallery too =)
definitely a lot of info you learnt there.. nice to experience it in person!
been to Sekinchan a few times. but never know about this Paddy Gallery. would bring my family there one day
I’ve visited this Paddy Gallery before and it’s really informative! Sekinchan is really packed with tourist before the harvesting season!
i have never been to this place. looks like interesting and thanks for the information. I want to visit the paddy gallery!
Waa I never seen this before! Although I always visit paddy field when I visit Sekinchan =D
Wow, seems like rice planting technologies have come a long way. Thanks for sharing such an informative post. I am a huge rice consumer, so it’s great to learn more about how it’s grown.
Great place to learn the paddy, for kids or even us the adults 🙂
Thank you for sharing this paddy info. I believe students at early age should learn the important and many uses of rice. Rice is life herr in Asia, and am proud of it. Lovely sharing dear!