A CABINET committee on food security, chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, will be established soon to formulate a national food security policy, said Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Ronald Kiandee.

He said the agro-food subsector will be the main focus in the agriculture sector to achieve the agenda of improving Malaysia’s food security and generate higher income for agriculture frontliners.

The committee’s focus will include strengthening the food supply chain, improving support and delivery services, enhancing technological knowledge and skills as well as promoting greater compliance to standards and good agricultural practices, he said in a statement today.

He said the ministry was planning for the post-Covid-19 period by looking at various medium- and long-term solutions to help agriculture frontliners recover from setbacks caused by the pandemic.

The ministry, he said, will also continue to play a more active role in searching for new market access while bringing in investors to create economies of scale in agriculture.

With the upcoming 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) and National Agro-Food Policy (NAFP) 2.0, the government will continue to foster modernisation in the agro-food subsector by leveraging on the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), he added.

He said this is to improve food security and safety by increasing productivity, generating higher income and attracting a younger generation of agropreneurs, which will ultimately increase the contribution of total agriculture value added to gross domestic product (GDP).

He said among the challenges in the country’s agriculture sector are the low utilisation of mechanisation and automation, dependency on foreign workers, lack of private investment and funding, difficulty in accessing markets, an unsustainable subsidy mechanism and lack of quality seeds and breeds.  

“Another one of the major hurdles towards achieving food security is our dependency on the import of meats, vegetables and fruits from temperate regions, which has resulted in a deficit agro-food trade balance as we spend more than RM50 billion to import these (types of) produce,” he said.

He added that the self-sufficiency level (SSL) for fruits is now at 78.4%, while the SSL for vegetables is at 44.6% and for meat products, 22.9%.

Kiandee called for a paradigm shift in agriculture in that it should no longer be viewed as a 3D (dirty, dangerous, difficult) industry, adding that the involvement of the younger generation is key towards bringing in IR4.0 and modernising the agricultural sector in Malaysia through the adoption of the latest technologies and techniques.

He said only 8.5% of farmers are under the age of 40 and so far, the Young Agropreneur Programme under the ministry has produced more than 5,000 entrepreneurs.

He also advised the people to refrain from panic buying or stockpiling as the ministry is doing its best to keep the food supply chain intact during the movement control order (MCO) period.

He reminded Malaysians to acknowledge the efforts of frontliners, including those in the agriculture sector, such as farmers, fishermen and food producers, who are putting themselves at risk to ensure continuity of food supply during the pandemic. – Bernama, April 22, 2020.