Academic backs call for boost to agriculture and fisheries

The agriculture sector contributes about 10.8% of the gross domestic product, says academic Yeong Sheng Tey.

PETALING JAYA: An academic has backed a call for the strengthening of the agriculture and fisheries sectors, saying problems associated with the movement control order (MCO) have highlighted the importance of food security.

Commenting on Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan’s remarks on the need to boost the development of agricultural industries, Yeong Sheng Tey of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies said the MCO had exposed some serious shortcomings in existing value chains which were putting increased pressure on food security.

He said all long-term plans should be revisited in order to strengthen such industries and empower farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises.

On Tuesday, Mohamad said in a media statement that Malaysia could reduce its import bills, ensure food security and provide employment opportunities if the government were to strengthen the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

Tey noted that agricultural industries were commonly seen as low value, but he said this was not a fair view as the national accounting for agriculture’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) takes into account only the value at the farm level.

“Agro-based value-adding activities fall under other sectors like manufacturing for food processing,” he said. “Statistics department figures show the agro-based sector has actually been growing at a faster pace than the upstream sector.”

Overall, he added, agricultural and agro-based industries in 2017 contributed about RM163 billion to the GDP, or 10.8% of it.

He said the productivity of the agriculture and fisheries sectors had changed dramatically in the last 10 years compared to the palm oil sector, which has seen yields of fresh fruit bunches and oil extraction remaining stagnant even as input costs increase.

“The poultry, fishery and vegetable sectors grew in productivity by more than 1.5 times during the period.”

In 2015, the average annual productivity of these sectors were at least twice that of the oil palm sector.

Tey said such productivity was driven largely by improved market prices and private investments in best management practices, technologies, innovations and supply chains.

“Despite this being the case, the significance of the agriculture and agro-based industries remains understated even though they are the backbone of food security, a necessary precondition of economic development.”

He said efforts to boost the productivity of the agriculture and fisheries sectors needed to be intensified to reduce Malaysia’s food trade deficit and amplify many economic and social benefits that come with it.

He called for a business-friendly environment to shape a conducive and competitive market. “Private investments either through public-private participatory partnerships or in other forms must be encouraged in order to drive agricultural growth.”

He said policymakers should strive to improve access to quality inputs, financial resources, market information, business matching facilities, supply chain solutions and public investments in aggregation technologies.

Economist Barjoyai Bardai of Universiti Tun Abdul Razak said strengthening the two sectors would boost the incomes of more than two million households.

“The focus should no longer be on the commodities crops for export but rather on import substitution and the creation of small business opportunities” by adding value to fisheries products and crops like palm oil, coconuts, coffee, cocoa and tapioca, he said.

But he added that Malaysia was behind in the use of technology in agriculture and fisheries.

“We need to adapt to new technologies, not just in terms of mechanisation but in cultivation skills, best practices and so on. We need to leverage on the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics and big data.” - FMT