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Malaysia’s lagging agriculture sector

By Murray Hunter - posted Tuesday, 10 December 2019


Other agricultural activities include cocoa production, which in the 1980s looked promising before most plantings were wiped out through disease. Although production is still dwindling, some entrepreneurs are producing boutique beans and developing downstream niche chocolate production. Vegetable and fruit production produce 40 percent and 66 percent of the nation's needs respectively. Production is gradually increasing with an impetus of new younger farmers, who are trying to make businesses out of their farms.

However, knowledge, experience and knowhow are still being built up. Soil and environmental conditions are poor in many areas, with nutrient-lacking soils and polluted water sources, with chemical contaminants present. Disease has almost wiped out potentially promising niche industries like dragon fruit. Many producers are still nascent to certifications and supply chain management.

Malaysiacurrently only produces around 20-25 percent of its beef, goat and mutton requirements. Despite many previous government initiatives to bolster meat production, there is a chronic shortage of grazing land on the peninsula, and in some cases public abattoir facilities are not certified. Likewise, dairies supply only a fraction of local demand. In contrast, the privately developed and operated poultry industry has been developed as a successful state of the art, fully integrated industry, not only producing all of Malaysia's poultry needs, but Singapore's as well.

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Smallholders have tended to be minimally educated and are now well into their 60s. Paddy fields, rubber plantations, and dusuns (fruit orchards) have been left idle with no one to take over. This is in contrast to farmers in other countries who take over from their fathers with technical and business degrees and vision.

Local Malaysian farmers have been dispirited by the agricultural backgrounds of their localities and held back by the limited crop opportunities of their land. They have been scared by scammers who tell them to plant bananas, lemongrass, chili fertigation, agarwood, and teak, only to fail technically or have no buyer once the crop is ready to harvest. Young people don't want to take over the family farm holding because they want to find better opportunities.

This is one of the weaknesses of the Ministry of Agriculture and subordinate agencies. These organizations lack the ability to empower the youth of rural communities through outreach and extension. There is also no vision of how integrated communities should be created and developed into multiactivity local-sustainable micro-economies. Malaysia, unlike Thailand doesn't have model integrated farms that demonstrate and teach communities how to farm and create cottage industries.

While Malaysian academics write academic papers with an eye to promotion, their Thai counterparts are in the community helping the people create products, processes, brands, and markets. They enrich community sustainability. This is a prerequisite to develop and expand coconut production and create multiple downstream industries using coconut materials to produce coconut oil, virgin coconut oil, coconut milk, activated carbon, copra, processed coconut products and even animal feeds.

The Ministry of Agriculture's research priorities have been developed by bureaucrats rather than industry. Research priorities need to be focused on the problems and opportunities of today, for current stakeholders. Research has been left to small units at the Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI). This would include products like ginger, chili, onion, garlic, cabbage, sweet corn, eggplant, okra, long beans, avocado, asam jawa – tamarind – figs, grapes, mangoes, cashew nuts, and macadamia nuts, etc.

The successful food processing firm Adabi Consumer Industries is unable to purchase all its needs locally and is forced to import raw materials. Unlike Thailand and Taiwan, little has been done to help communities develop downstream products like dried and canned fruits, processed foods, dairy foods, snacks, ice cream, sausages, pies, and burger patties, etc. Institutes like MARDI may show the minister and media some of these products in exhibitions, but rural communities rarely get to see them, let alone learn how to produce them.

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Little is done to create branding paradigms other than the slogan "Malaysia Best." Sabah and Cameron Tea companies have successfully used geographical branding, halal farming is largely ignored even though the global halal market is growing by double digits. Organic and ethical products hardly exist.

The Pakatan Harapan government has decided that rather than put effort into meeting the country's current agricultural challenges the rural community depends on, it will invest time and resources into smart farming. This is an opportunity for consulting and technology companies to make a lot of money, and bureaucrats travel overseas on junkets to smart farming exhibitions at taxpayer expense.

But smart farming will not revitalize existing farming in the country. It will assist new entrepreneurs with access to expertise and capital to pick up grants and incentives. Smart farming is set to be the next white elephant, just as the biotech initiative was.

Malaysian agriculture is at a crossroads. The whole sector needs rethinking. People with experience and knowledge of the issues are in the country. Before committing to smart farming, which does have a place in some niches, the potential future directions of the sector need to be discussed openly, so a new thought out direction can be set in Malaysian agriculture. The government needs to work on transforming what already is, help rural communities that are in need, rather than look after its own with one more white elephant.

Article originally published in the Asia Sentinel

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About the Author

Murray Hunter is an associate professor at the University Malaysia Perlis. He blogs at Murray Hunter.

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