Page 25 - Asia Speaks

11) URBAN RESILIENCE by Umar Aiman Bin Abd Manan
Malaysia, whose agriculture sector used to lead the economy for decades into the 1970s, is falling behind Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and other regional players like China, Taiwan, and Korea in terms of innovation, technology know-how, methodology and products, and value chain development. The push towards oil palm plantation, made popular by Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir in the early 1980s has led to the gradual and steep decline of the agriculture sector in Malaysia. The push towards oil palm industry proved to be a winning move made by the government, as it has brought up plenty of economic and social benefits for the Malaysian citizens, but we have to double down on the industry for far too long.
We’ve become so dependent on palm oil that ninety-per cent of land in Malaysia is filled with the plantation, with rubber trailing behind in second place. Both are plantation crops. Only ten to twelve per cent of the land is filled with food
crops. When it comes to food security, only the production of eggs had achieved and surpassed the country’s consumption requirement at 110%
but it still falls short of reaching the status of food sovereignty. The production of fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry; all for short from reaching the 100% requirement needed for our local consumption. As such, we were forced to import food from other countries, which is absurd as our land and climate are rich in biodiversity and we could have just produced our food here on our own land. Our own smallholder farmers are taking the biggest hit, as the lack of focused on the agricultural sector in Malaysia has resulted in the farmers struggling to earn decent incomes, having the youth abandoning their land for better jobs in the city, and lands being left idle with no one to attend to. This is a massive loss of resources and opportunities.
Therefore, what we can do is to learn from our neighbour Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and others to form an alliance to share best practices on improving our agricultural sector in Malaysia. For example, in Thailand, they have model integrated farms that demonstrate and teach communities how to farm and create cottage industries. The agricultural researchers in Thailand work side by side with the farmer's
community to create products, process, brand and market their goods. For example, they developed and expand coconut production and create multiple downstream industries using coconut materials to produce coconut oil, virgin coconut oil, coconut milk, processed coconut products, and even animal feeds. In Malaysia, we tend to focus on upstream or raw production only.
If we shift towards the social sector, social enterprises also help bring great values to the agricultural sector. Case in the note, a social enterprise in Myanmar called Proximity Design helps design and deliver affordable, income-boosting products to help smallholder farmers thrive in their work. The good thing is that the countries mentioned above shared similar climate and environment like our own, thus allowing us to bring and adapt their innovation and practice here in Malaysia. The Malaysian government aren’t the only sole player in the sector, but other non- profits and social enterprises in Malaysia could help stimulate and rejuvenate our agricultural sector as well.
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