KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia needs to improve on
producing its own foodstuff, particularly food crops, to avert an impending
global food crisis.
The National Council of Professors'
agriculture and food cluster head, Professor Dr Ghizan Saleh said the
government could apply effective pricing controls on food production of a
variety of produce, as it was already doing on rice.
By doing this, farmers would no longer be at
the mercy of price fluctuations.
"Food production should be marketed as a
business and farmers must gain some benefits from their activities.
"Food is life, so agriculture is life. If
we don't support food production by offering better incentives to the
agricultural sector, not many will want to venture into it," said Ghizan.
Malaysia currently spends 30 per cent of its
national income on food imports.
It is estimated that the country will spend as
much as 70 per cent in 2050 -- the year the Food and Agriculture Organisation
of the United Nations (FAO) anticipates the global food crisis will take place.
A statement from the Agriculture Ministry
showed that Malaysia spent RM31.2 billion (S$12.6 billion) on its latest food
import bill.
The figure could go higher as a comparison between
our food import bill, for the period between January and July last year
(RM16.03 billion) and this year (RM19.45 billion), indicated a difference of
RM3.43 billion.
Ghizan said Malaysia would need to focus more
on the productivity of land per area, as higher productivity would lead to a
higher yield, and thus better income. Good agricultural practices would also
help yield better results.
"Malaysia imports lot of food, such as
meat products, and to a smaller extent, rice. We import a lot of corn, almost
100 per cent for animal feed. That means RM3 billion worth of corn," he
said, adding that Malaysia had only reached 73 per cent sufficiency in its rice
production.
As the price of importing is high and can only
rise higher as other parts of the world increase their imports and struggle
with food shortage issues, Malaysia needs to look at substituting imported
foodstuffs, or try to produce locally.
"A great deal could be done if we can
produce our own breeds and variety of crops, animals and fish.
"We import as much as RM100 million worth
of seeds and we need to focus on producing more good breeds and excellent
varieties for local production."
Ghizan said the NPC would be proposing the
establishment of an institution devoted to that end.
He said that when it came to agriculture, one
needed to start with good breeds and good varieties, then other things would
come into place, such as the environment, labour, technology and crop
protection.
In any case, Ghizan said good breeds would
thrive under most conditions.
However, he said the country should not waste
time in producing crops that would not be economically feasible.
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism
Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Agriculture Ministry would
need to work harder on reducing the import of foodstuffs.
"For example, the price of chicken in
Malaysia is expensive because the price of chicken feed is expensive.
"We have to reduce our dependency on such
imports because if we continue to allow the outside market to control prices,
our consumers will be at the losing end," he said.
Ismail Sabri added that even the local
production of coconuts was insufficient, despite Bagan Datoh in Perak, being
known for its coconuts.
Masami Mustaza
New Straits Times
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