THE country's food sector is facing major challenges that will persist in the next decades. These include providing sufficient food to meet a growing population, rising per capita income and dietary changes, eradicating hunger and food insecurity, enhancing productivity and sustainable use of natural resources, adapting to the impact of climate change, and contributing to climate change mitigation.
However, the food sub-sectors of crops, livestock and fisheries have yet to match the performance of industrial crops. This translated into low self-sufficiency levels (SSL) for basic foods.
For instance, last year, food with low SSL were rice (69 per cent), beef (23.7 per cent), mutton (12.1 per cent) and fresh milk (59.3 per cent). As a result, our country is a major importer of food, with
a trade balance deficit that has been rising year on year.
In 1990, the food trade balance deficit was RM1.1 billion. In 2006, it increased to RM8.5 billion, and RM18.6 billion in 2018.
In the past, increases in agricultural production have primarily come from expansion of cultivated land as well as from agricultural productivity increases.
Most of the productive land is now being used. Hence, future increases in food production will have to be as a result of increases in agricultural productivity.
In the 2021 Budget, to ensure the supply of quality and safe food at affordable prices, investment in food production should not only be evaluated in terms of private benefits, but social returns and the country's security and peace. This requires an ecosystem and a mix between food policy, technology and entrepreneurship:
THE need for conducive policy. Investment in food production should not only be evaluated in terms of private benefits, but social returns and the country's security. To stimulate investment in food production, incentives to the private sector must be provided where the return on investment in food production is at least comparable to that of industrial crops;
TECHNOLOGY factor. More funds should be given to investment, research and adoption in agricultural system technology. Examples of these technologies are mechanisation, soil and water sensors, drone, weather tracking, automation, vertical agriculture, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, agricultural GPS technology, robotics and precision agriculture; and,
ENTREPRENEURSHIP element. To complement the policy ecosystem and adoption of technology, food production should be practised by entrepreneurs who can practise commercial production and adoption of advanced technology.
Therefore, the government, in the 2021 Budget, should provide for more funds in the development of entrepreneurs in food production. Universiti Putra Malaysia has the expertise to train agro-entrepreneurs through its Agro-entrepreneurship Incubation Programme.
A food commodity that needs special attention is aquaculture, as it is becoming important as a way of increasing local production for food security and increasing export revenues. However, difficulties in land acquisition, rising production costs, lack of skilled labour and threat of diseases are obstacles that impede the development of aquaculture.
Thus research funding should be given priority due to the importance of aquaculture as an alternative source of fish supply. In addition, food production, in general, is exposed to more unpredictable risks and uncertainties than the industrial sector.
Budget should be allocated to develop an early-warning system to reduce the risk in food production.
The scope of the system includes price monitoring and forecasting as well as emergency-preparedness planning to prevent natural disasters, such as irrigation and flood-control schemes.
To minimise market disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, what is important is that the authorities should continue to monitor food prices and strengthen market supervision, ensure effective delivery of agricultural inputs including feed, ensure smooth logistical operations of regional agricultural and food supply chains, and ensure the smooth flow of trade and make full use of the international market to secure food supply and demand.
The writer is a professor at Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia