LETTERS: IN Malaysia, a newborn in 2019 is expected to live up to 75 years compared with 71.9 years in 1990, with 9.5 years likely to be spent in poor health, 0.4 years more than in 1990.
Social determinants of health such as housing, education, job, income, access to nutritious food and physical activity could be the key factors of poor health.
Those with limited access to nutritious food have a higher risk of contracting non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart problems.
The World Health Organisation's 2018 data showed that coronary heart disease-related deaths in Malaysia stood at 34,766 or 24.69 per cent of total deaths.
Imagine those in the B40 group who lost their jobs or income during the pandemic. How could they afford to buy increasingly expensive vegetables for their nutritional intake?
With soaring vegetable prices, food truck and coffee shop owners, among others, with limited cash-flow would cut vegetable portions served to reduce operating costs ranging from salaries of employees, rent, utility charges and cooking gas.
Hence, to ensure Malaysians continue to enjoy substantial vegetable intake during the endemic period, EMIR Research has policy recommendations for the different stakeholders:
FOR the citizens: They could grow vegetables if they have space in their residence to avoid buying costly
vegetables.
With a mini garden inside a residence, individuals or family members could enjoy the indoor environment, quality air and well-ventilated indoor space. They could also relax their mind through gardening.
FOR the government: FIRST, work with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Food Aid Foundation, The Lost Food Project and Pasar Grub to distribute leftover but consumable food or "lower quality" vegetables and fruits to the B40 group.
SECOND, the government should mark, map and include all the B40 households into their geographic information system (GIS) for data collection, planning and implementation.
THIRD, integrate food and nutrition-focused programmes with different transfer modalities such as in kind, cash or vouchers into the social protection system.
FOURTH, low-income households, in particular, can use food vouchers or cash to buy food. It ensures that people have a basic income, giving them the ability to cover their basic spending needs and enjoy nutritious food.
FIFTH, provide subsidies for seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to farmers through a coupon system.
The farmers could use the coupon to buy high-quality seeds from a vendor or company. The vendor also can use the coupon to claim payment from the government.
This will also motivate the farmers to produce high-quality vegetables in sufficient quantities for domestic needs, allowing Malaysia to depend less on imports.
SIXTH, the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and related government agencies should do more in terms of logistics by assisting rural farmers to store and transport agricultural products to major cities. Hence rural farmers no longer have to travel to sell
vegetables to end users.
In a nutshell, the government has to intensify and enhance the policy mechanisms to guarantee the welfare of farmers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers.
The price ceiling or price control mechanism that is targeted only at the retailer, that is, market vegetable seller, is not sufficient to counterbalance the effects of rising food price inflation.
As such, the government must address profiteering by focusing on the middlemen in the supply chain who dominate and fix the prices, as confirmed through investigations by consumer groups.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and Fama are responsible for conducting regular checks and enforcement to ensure farm, wholesale and retail prices are set at reasonable and acceptable
levels.
AMANDA YEO
Research analyst, 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