IN order to boost Malaysia’s ailing agriculture sector, a total overhaul of existing policies must involve multiple ministries and sectors, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Salahuddin said a collective policy was being worked out to address the challenges faced by the agriculture sector in being an economic generator for the country.

“In the economies of scale, the responsibility for the country’s agriculture does not lie on the shoulders of the ministry alone,” he said.

The Agriculture Ministry was not able to draft out this policy on its own as it needs the whole government administration to come together to agree on the roles each plays, said Salauddin.

“The ministry cannot do a national policy – only the government can, but it must be clear on what it needs from the agriculture sector,” he said.

The minister said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his adviser Daim Zainuddin were giving serious attention to the country’s agriculture development. 

“Both Dr Mahathir and Daim admit that during their era of 22 years between 1982 and 2002, they had not given much attention to the agriculture sector as the country was focused on building the industrial sector.

“Now everyone sees the potential in agriculture and it’s good that both these men are talking much about the matter,” Salahuddin said.

He said an example of cross-ministerial cooperation was how the tax department and the environment ministry both play an important role in agriculture.

“For instance, the country still needs to import of raw materials to churn out items like fertiliser and therefore the tax rates must be reasonable.

“A collective policy is also needed, for instance, for a land policy. A land policy is very much related to agriculture.

“We could designate lands for paddy planting and farming. These lands could not be taken away and developed for something else. This could guarantee enough rice supply,” Salauddin told The Malaysian Insight in Putrajaya recently.

In a recent interview with The Malaysian Insight, Daim had said that agriculture was the future of Malaysia.

“I view Daim’s visits and statements positively. There are some people who told Daim not to be involved, what can he do at his age now? He is old.

“But it is time for both Dr Mahathir and Daim to share their views on how to move forward in this sector – on what needs to be changed, revised or whether a new policy is needed,” said Salahuddin.

He also gave his assurance that the government would continue to improve the agriculture sector.

“I will continue to talk about this to ensure that the country is serious about this field. There must be some kind of intervention on what needs to be done in this sector. If not, we will never reach our goals,” he said. – June 16, 2019.