Bayan Baru MP wants govt to initiate action plans for food security
Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin has urged the government of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to come up with action plans to ensure food security for the Malaysian people.
"In 2021, Malaysia imported a staggering RM63 billion of food, and the recent shortage of chicken and high food prices have created awareness of food security in Malaysia.
"Politicians from across the racial, religious and ideological divides have...
Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin has urged the government of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to come up with action plans to ensure food security for the Malaysian people.
"In 2021, Malaysia imported a staggering RM63 billion of food, and the recent shortage of chicken and high food prices have created awareness of food security in Malaysia.
"Politicians from across the racial, religious and ideological divides have held forth this issue and rightly so.
“At the recent United Nations General Assembly, all head of governments are turning their attention from Covid-19 to the disruption of supply chains for food and other necessities that the pandemic caused," said Sim, who was the deputy minister of agriculture in the Pakatan Harapan government.
He said food security has become a matter of grave concern and that questions concerning the issue have leapt from the periphery to the centre.
"Nobody can be taken seriously if they trivialise the importance of these questions," said Sim, adding that Malaysia is not facing a serious food security threat right now, but needs to plan carefully.
Food security is measured mainly by four criteria: availability, affordability, safety and quality, natural resources and resilience.
"Malaysia is ranked number 39th in the global food security index and second in Southeast Asia. Not a bad position, given that our agriculture sector, once the mainstay of the economy, has been neglected for many years.
"However, the year 2020 and beyond has altered perspectives, compelling the weighing of issues about food, its cultivation and supply into matters of grave concern," said Sim.
Major developments
He said four major developments have caused serious concern about food security globally as well as in Malaysia.
"First and foremost, the lockdowns brought on by the Covid-19 lockdowns caused global supply chain disruptions. It has changed the supply chain forever, including the trade in food.
"Secondly, the trade war and decoupling of China and US have spilt over to food trade as well. The trade war will intensify in the foreseeable future.
"The third factor complicating matters is the Russian and Ukraine war that began on Feb 24 this year. Prior to the start of hostilities, Ukraine was responsible for 30 percent of the global wheat supply and Russia was the largest fertiliser export country in the world.
"The fourth and, likely, the most important development is climate change. The incidence of extreme heatwaves, followed by droughts, and unprecedented floods that occurred in countries like Pakistan, combined to reduce global food supply," he said.
Sim added that the scale and intensity of these disasters jarred climate change deniers out of their complacency and forced them to acknowledge that climate change presented a challenge that policymakers had to factor into their calculations of the future.
"I would like to propose five action items to make Malaysia more resilient in our agriculture and food industry.”
The items are as follows:
1. Agriculture land reform
Land is key to all agricultural advancement. If more land is allocated to farmers, more food can be produced. Peninsular Malaysia currently has eight million hectares of agricultural land. Around six million hectares or 75 percent are allocated to oil palm plantations.
Another one million hectares or 12.5 percent are for rubber plantations. This leaves only one million hectares for all agro-food activity and this includes paddy, vegetable, fruit farming, ruminants, fish and shrimp cultivation. The limited supply of land has severely hindered agricultural advancement in Malaysia.
"Food security must be premised on agricultural land reform that takes the shape of land redistribution,” he said, suggesting that the federal government under Majlis Tanah Negara, which is chaired by the prime minister, take the lead and commission a comprehensive study.
2. Technology in farming
Modern farming can apply technology to the entire supply chain. Modern vegetable farms can also use high-definition cameras to identify pests and release bio-control to control pests.
Technology can transform our agriculture sector into high-yield, high-efficiency modern farming. It will reduce costs of production and make our ex-farm prices competitive, said Sim.
3. Malaysia as agriculture export nation
He also argued that Malaysia must work towards export-based agriculture.
"Our objective should be set at producing international quality farm products. We have been successful in exporting palm oil to the world. We are currently a big exporter of shrimps to the US and Europe. We are also exporting tomatoes to the Middle East. We are also exporting vegetables and poultry to Singapore and Brunei.
"By improving quality and yields, it will benefit the country in terms of food security and food safety.”
4. Work on comparative advantages
The Bayan Baru MP also pointed out that Malaysia has several comparative advantages.
"Palm oil is one of the best crops that we produce. In terms of food crops, Malaysia's tropical fruits segment such as durians, pineapples, poultry farming, fish and shrimp farming are success stories. We can further work on several emerging sectors such as modern vegetable farming to reduce our reliance on imports.
"If we improve our agriculture sector, we can greatly reduce our food import bill," he argued.
5. Attracting agriculture talents and investments
Sim said the major challenges in agriculture are long-term returns on investment and the lack of talent in the sector.
"Without passionate farmers and experts, farms will fail. To attract talent and investment, governments must incentivise investments. When farmers see potential profits, they will invest and draw new farmers into the sector.
"To be fair, the government is currently giving tax-free incentives for agriculture investments for 10 years. However, the application process is long and complicated.
"I urge the Finance Ministry to seriously reform the current tax exemption application process and system," said Sim.
