16 agriculture commodities record over 100 pct self-sufficiency ratio

Research conducted by the Statistics Department has shown that 16 out of 33 selected agricultural commodities have a self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) of more than 100 percent in 2017.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the SSR can be used to measure the extent to which a country depends on its own production resources, ie the higher the ratio, the greater a country's self-sufficiency.

Chief Statistician Uzair Mahidin said the agricultural commodities were divided into three categories, namely crops (fruits and vegetables), livestock and fisheries.

He said for fruits, seven out of 13 fruits recorded a SSR of more than 100 percent, with watermelon being the highest at 151.7 percent followed by papaya (143.6 percent) and star fruit (136 percent).

Per capita consumption (PCC) of coconut was the highest at 19.4 kg/year followed by banana (10.0 kg/year), pineapple (7.6 kg/year) and durian (6.4 kg/year), he said in a statement today.

As for vegetables, Uzair said six vegetables recorded a SSR of more than 100 percent, namely spinach, lady’s finger, long bean, brinjal, cucumber, and tomato.

“The PCC of round cabbage was the highest (5.4 kg/year) followed by mustard (4.4 kg/year), tomato (3.9 kg/year) and cucumber (2.3 kg/year),” he said.

As for livestock, he said the SSR of chicken/duck egg (113.7 percent) was the highest followed by poultry meat (98.2 percent) and pork (92.1 percent), while mutton was the lowest (10.7 percent).

“Poultry meat recorded the highest PCC of 52.0 kilogrammes per year followed by chicken/duck egg (22.2 kg/year) and pork (16.3 kg/year),” he said.

In the fisheries segment, he said cuttlefish recorded the highest SSR of 104.8 percent while mackerel was the lowest (82.9 percent).

However, the PCC of mackerel (5.2 kg/year) was the highest among fisheries followed by shrimp (3.9 kg/year) and tuna (2.5 kg/year), while crab has the lowest (0.4 kg year).

- Bernama