ALOR SETAR, Jan 13 — The Kedah government is on a quest to make the ‘Jelapang Padi’ (Padi Rice Bowl) state a developed one in five years.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said plans for this were already in place and that all that was needed to be done was to ramp them up.

"We do not know when Kedah will be an advanced state... could be in 10, 20 or 30 years. But with the five- year target, it can be a developed state.

"This will be impressed upon the civil servants so that they get cracking to delivers results faster,” he told reporters after the state government’s monthly assembly here today.

Kedah has been dependent heavily on agriculture but the mentri besar envisions the state to be on par with the developed states in the federation like Selangor, Penang, Johor, Melaka and Perak. — Bernama