Even if Malaysia succeeds in producing more food, there is no guarantee it will be secure, or help bring prices down.
Professor Shaufique Fahmi Ahmad Sidique was responding to National Recovery Council chairman, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s comments yesterday, about how Malaysia needed to focus on food security, en route to lowering prices of food and raw materials.
The director of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Plantation Studies Institute said Malaysia could produce its own food, but it would not happen overnight.
He also said that even countries such as the United States and India – who are large producers of food – are also grappling with rising prices of goods.
“Yes, it would be better to produce more of the crops we need, but we are still importing fertiliser. That is not cheap.
“Global prices have gone up. Our farmers cannot sell too cheaply, or they will lose money,” said Shaufique.
“But before we think of expanding our crops, there are several prerequisites that need to be addressed.
“We need to make sure that there is economic growth. We must address poverty, and ensure prices are controlled, and stabilised.”
Shaufique stressed that the right policies needed to be in place, and that spending must be properly targeted.
He also said that it was not about finding land or converting palm oil plantations into agricultural farms, as there must be more food value.
“We need to change our perspective on how to develop more downstream activities.
He said the National Agro-Food Policy 2021-2030 had outlined the steps necessary to modernise farming, through the application of new technologies, and the optimisation of resources.
“Technology can help us produce more food, and we should channel more of our resources into improving it.
“That is why the government came out with the National Agro-Food Policy 2021-2030, to help those in the industry improve their yield,” he said.
Shaufique cited poultry farming as an example, as only 30 per cent of chicken farms used the closed-house system.
Despite this, Malaysians consume about 50kg of chicken per person, per year, one of the largest in the world.
“We need to review the poultry ecosystem and convert more farms to the closed-house system,” he said.
“We also need to look at ways to improve our processing industry.
“The government should consider tax and financial incentives to encourage foreign direct investments and domestic investments in the production of value-added products, such as processed foods and ready-to-eat meals for export.
He said this could reduce the export of live birds.
