ABSTRACT
In Pesagi over 40 rice cultivars are recognized and planted. Visits to other villages and encounters with Malay from other parts of central Pahang, suggests that there are at least one hundred locally recognized rice cultivars. Rice interbreeds readily, so that rice farmers must utilize highly effective skills of seed selection in order to maintain the characters of each distinct cultivar over time. Consulting the literature on rice identification shows that Pahang's rice cultivars are so diverse as to include many of the characters known for rices spread over a wide geographical range. The paya soil surface is bowl-shaped when viewed in cross-section, with the water shallow near the edges and deep toward the center. The attitude towards color in glutinous rices is quite different, with the full range of colors being in demand. Each type and color of glutinous rice has specific ritual uses, or is required for making special confections or cakes.
