MALAYSIA needs to focus on the food-based agriculture sector through digital and technological adoption, former finance minister Daim Zainuddin said after food imports in 2020 amounted to a record-setting RM55.5 billion.

The senior advisor of the Thought for Food Foundation (TFF), said in a press statement that the modernisation of agriculture and aquaculture is imperative in order to bring Malaysians and the economy into the 21st century.

“The Future FoodTech Festival will show how existing and future food innovations can achieve food sustainability and better health for everyone.”

“This event will catalyse food innovation and power-up the supply chain to reshape the agri-food sector,” he said.

Daim’s statement today was made in relation to the Future Foodtech Festival 2021, which is set to take place from November 6 to November 7 in Publika, Kuala Lumpur.

Daim said he believed that the development of a technologically-advanced and sustainable agriculture and aquaculture industry will be the key to resolving many issues in the country.

According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia is highly dependent on imports of mutton (RM879.4 million), mango (RM87.9 million), coconut (RM266.1 million) and beef (RM2.2 billion) from Australia, Thailand, India and Indonesia to meet domestic demand.

The data also shows a high import bill of chillies, ginger, and round cabbage.

“As an import-dependent country, food security has been an important topic for many years. This risk has increased as a result of the current Covid-19 pandemic, and will become even more urgent in the face of future inevitable climatic, environmental, and health-related shocks.”

“The implementation of the national movement-control order (MCO) to curb the virus – (during which) only essential services were allowed to operate with restricted hours and number of employees – adversely affected food production.”

“The MCO has also significantly restricted consumer purchases, which, in turn, has caused selected agricultural commodities to record a high self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) as compared to the previous year,” TFF said in the statement.

TFF further stated that Malaysia has much to offer in the agri-food tech space, and is poised to become a global leader if supported with the right levels of investment and support.

“As an English-speaking country with high levels of education and great diversity, next-generation innovators can rely on Malaysia to both launch their own businesses and hire from the highly-skilled workforce available to them.”

“These were the driving factors that lead the global not-for-profit foundation TFF to choose Malaysia to be the location for their first regional hub for southeast Asia,” it added.

The event aims to bring together fast-moving consumer goods and consumer packaged goods leaders, agro-preneurs, researchers, investors, food ingredient developers, retailers, and foodservice providers to power innovation and breakthrough technologies. – September 18, 2021.