Would Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister, who was greeted like a hero at the Riverside Cafe in the Putra World Trade Centre, care to answer some questions on agriculture? These questions may be more in line with his ministerial ‘expertise’.

Ismail has shown that he is a failure in race relations and in understanding the various mechanisms that affect the prices of goods. What use is his law degree or his education, for that matter, when things which are not to his liking, are attributed to race?

Ismail had earlier urged Malays to boycott Chinese traders. He has refused to apologise for his unacceptable and disgusting remarks, and the leader of his party is too scared to ask for his resignation or to sack him.

Food experts have warned that Malaysia is heavily reliant on food imports and a few have warned that the nation would starve, in the event of a global economic crisis or war. The general consensus is that the situation is getting desperate, as we are losing the ability to produce our food.

Although there appears to be plenty of food around, Malaysia is not self-sufficient in food production and various experts have urged stringent measures for the kick-starting of the nation’s food production.

Those in the field have made serious allegations of corruption in agriculture and aquaculture in Malaysia. Ever since the 1970s and 1980s, people have worried about the direction of the nation’s food production. Ministers appear to be clueless, and harp on the palm oil industry as agriculture, whilst ignoring everything people have been telling them for decades.

One expert who prefers to remain anonymous said, “We are one of the least productive of the South-East Asian countries as far as food is concerned, and the situation is getting worse each year. Despite the fact that we keep increasing our food imports annually, the government talks about agriculture only in terms of oil palm production!”

This expert is not alone in expressing the perils of food security. Conversations with other experts in the field have revealed that agriculture and aquaculture in our country is synonymous with corruption, bribery and politics. Another insider said, “Banks run a mile if you mention the word ‘agriculture’.”

The experts asked: “Have you heard of the following? The Malaysian Agricultural Park? The Malaysian Citrus Valley? The Malaysian Fruit Valley?”

When I said “No”, they did not appear surprised and continued. “We have heard of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), and that was a complete failure. People got rich and left nothing to show for the money, but have you heard about the Boer goat project?”

They did not wait for my answer and said, “All failures! The Malaysian Agricultural Park is in Lanchang, Pahang, growing papayas until one disease (Erwinia spp) killed all the trees. Naturally, we know how to treat the trees, but cannot circumvent the politics.”

Another expert added, “The Citrus Valley, in Dungun, Terengganu, simply wasted away. The Fruit Valley in Rawang, was turned over to the private industry.

‘No model farms which work’
 
“Failure after failure, has left us with no model farms which work! This may be a sweeping statement, but unfortunately, it is true. I could show you so many failed agricultural and aquacultural projects, on which hundreds of millions of ringgits have been spent. They are spread throughout the country!

“How can we support the rural people, if the people in charge of teaching them and helping them don’t seem to know what to do, in the first place?

“Some of them know how to write up projects and get government funding, but they do it only for their own companies. Things are so bad, that a senior government servant alleged that he could not understand why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) did not investigate the Agriculture Ministry, as so much is spent, every year, but there is very little to show for it.”

His colleague added, “The government always hides the truth of the crop failures and the increasing need to import food, from our people. For example, the decreasing production of our rice fields, the crash of our papaya to disease (Erwinia spp), the crash of our banana industry to Fusarium spp, the present serious problem of Ganoderma infection, in maybe half of our Oil Palm trees.”.  

They allege that “the government is very careful to not make too many facts available to the general public.”

So, how many more skeletons are hiding in the cupboards of the Agriculture Ministry?

Ismail may wish to address the many farmers in Malaysia, and attempt to resolve the issues that have been highlighted. He could start by explaining the ministry’s attempts to increase food production, to make us self-sufficient in food.


MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).