KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — The Agriculture Department has uncovered a growing trend of elderly and inactive paddy farmers informally leasing their land to foreigners, prompting calls for tighter monitoring of such arrangements.

The practice was detected during random field inspections carried out after farmers and landowners received assistance from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, New Straits Times reported today.

“The department has detected a trend where landowners, especially veterans or those no longer active in farming, rent out or lease their plots to foreigners informally.

“While this ensures that paddy fields continue to be cultivated, it requires close monitoring so it does not affect the industry's existing structure in the long run,” Agriculture Department deputy director-general (Industrial Development and Extension) Johari Abdullah was quoted as saying.

The arrangement is commonly referred to as an “Ali Baba” practice, where a person holding a right, permit or privilege allows another party to operate or derive the main benefits from it.

Johari said the department did not have data on the total acreage involved or the number of landowners participating because matters relating to land fall under the jurisdiction of state governments.

He also said there was currently no evidence that foreigners were taking over the country's paddy sector despite the cases detected during inspections.

The news report did not detail the backgrounds of the foreigners.

Johari attributed the presence of foreign workers in paddy cultivation largely to labour shortages and declining local interest in agricultural work classified as dirty, dangerous and difficult.

He said foreign participation currently served as a short-term solution to ensure agricultural land remained productive and did not lie idle.

Johari added that the department is seeking to reduce dependence on foreign labour through greater mechanisation and automation, while encouraging more young people to enter the agricultural sector through training and targeted incentives.