| Summary: | Competition over the use of paddy land to meet the needs of physical development is becoming a severe issue especially in developing countries including Malaysia. In fact, the world accepts this phenomenon as an inevitable trend. Some administrators respond to this situation as a challenge to the governance system. More worryingly, it is a threat to the paddy fields as these are agricultural prime areas and they do affect the level of food security in a country. This research aimed to propose a framework for agricultural land use control in paddy fields area towards sustainable food security in Malaysia. The study focused on rice cultivation areas under the supervision of the Muda Agriculture Development Authority (MADA), in Kedah and Seberang Perak Integrated Agricultural Development Area (IADA) in Perak. This qualitative study applied theoretical and empirical approaches. Theoretical studies involved literature review and document analysis to determine the relation between concepts of food security and existing land-use control and approaches. The findings of the theoretical studies showed that there is a gap for improvement and need for land use control to be strengthened at the Land Office level. This finding was further reinforced with findings from empirical studies based on respondents' understanding of land use control mechanisms obtained through semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analysed using thematic method, Maximum Qualitative Analysis (MAXQDA) software. Besides, comparative case studies through content analysis were conducted by selecting Netherlands, China and Thailand as the subjects for identifying several elements related to land ownership, governance structure, control approach, environment and optimal use of land in agricultural land management. The study found that although there are development controls mechanisms at the Local Planning Authorities level, regulatory exploitation and violation of land use are still happening. In fact, this study found that the threats to these paddy fields were liable to the production of rice. Based on the findings, a holistic framework for land use control over the preservation of food security is proposed to mitigate the said issues by taking into account the role of the land administration system in Malaysia.
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