LETTERS: Agricultural industrialisation is key to addressing the sustainability and future of our food industry in terms of safety, security and sovereignty.
Under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), the emphasis was on the "New Agriculture" to revitalise agriculture to fulfil the role as the third engine of growth.
Fast forward to the 11th Malaysia Plan, which is coming to an end this year, when it came to food security, we ranked second in Southeast Asia, while studies by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Malaysia 41 out of 113 countries on the Global Food Security Index.
We're behind Singapore, but ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. The continuous push for agricultural industrialisation under the 11MP has in view food safety through intensifying the implementation of quality assurance programmes for agriculture produce.
To boost agricultural industrialisation to attain the goals of food safety, security and sovereignty, EMIR Research would like to propose:
FOOD safety: The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry, together with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), should step up efforts by introducing timelines and deadlines to phase out and end the use of pesticides (which include herbicides and insecticides).
The ministry and Mardi have jointly produced the Diadegma and Cotesia wasp-type parasitoids, as well as the Tiger Fly (a type of a fly), to control Plutella moth and leaf miner infestations.
In the meantime, a concerted campaign involving the ministry, Mardi, regional agricultural development authorities, farmers' associations and non-governmental organisations must be intensified to promote biocontrol techniques and abandon the use of pesticides.
FOOD security: Incorporate the Integrated Agricultural Development Projects into all regional economic corridors. This will also spur the integration of the food supply chain and facilitate the digitalisation process.
Every stage of the food supply chain should be subject to a traceability and tracking system, using, for example, the radio frequency identification technology.
There should be re-emphasis on collectivisation of agricultural lands such as padi fields grouped into clusters of mini-estates as self-contained mini-production centres with the choice and capacity to bypass conventional supply chain channels to liberalise the rice market.
FOOD sovereignty: Extensive land rehabilitation projects for agriculture should be seriously considered. There could be joint ventures in the form of a triple alliance between the federal government (Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry), state development corporations and the private sector.
These projects would increase the number of Permanent Food Parks (PFPs), one of the strategies under the Third National Agriculture Policy.
PFPs should be earmarked as analogous to free trade or industrial zones, with tax incentives and emphasis on promoting digital agriculture.
Ultimately, integration and assimilation of urban and agricultural industrialisation should be implemented in line with the Total Planning Concept, where agriculture is part and parcel of the economic activities and environmental sustainability of any development project.
This includes urban farming — home, vertical, hydroponic and aeroponic — as driven by artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, precision analytics and Big Data.
The 12th Malaysia Plan is expected to renew the drive towards promoting agricultural industrialisation and take Malaysia to the next level in ensuring the sustainability of food safety, security and sovereignty.
Jason Loh Seong Wei
Head of Social, Law and Human Rights, EMIR Research, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times