Food security is measured mainly by four criteria: availability, affordability, safety and quality, natural resources and resilience.

the lockdowns brought on by the Covid lockdowns caused global supply chain disruptions

trade war and decoupling of China and US have spilled over to food trade as well.

Russia and Ukraine war that began on February 24 this year. Prior to the start of hostilities Ukraine was responsible for 30 per cent of global wheat supply and Russia was the largest fertiliser export country in the world.

Climate change. The incidence of extreme heatwaves, followed by droughts, and unprecedented floods that occurred in countries like Pakistan, combined to reduce global food supply

Reforms must take the shape of land redistribution. There must be a proper plan to allocate more agriculture land for food farming.

The available land must be transparent and open to genuine farmers. The land tenure must be long enough for farmers to grow their business.

The state governments must also work hard to eradicate rent seekers who lease agriculture land and rent it to farmers. This systemic problem has burdened genuine farmers and cause food prices to go up.

Suggestion : For Agriculture Land Reform to happen, I would like to suggest the Federal Government under Majlis Tanah Negara, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, take lead and commission a comprehensive study.

This top-down approach will ensure that the future suggestions and roadmap will be applicable to all states. State governments must not resist change. The current agriculture land restrictions have seriously curtailed the development of agriculture sector. For things to change, state governments must change too.

Modern farming can apply technology to the entire supply chain. Take vegetable farms. Modern vegetable farming started with laboratory research to produce quality seeds.

Modern vegetable farms can use high-definition cameras to identify pests and release biocontrol agents to control pests. Harvesting can also be done with modern automation systems. Vegetable factories can be set up in urban areas where LED lighting is used to replace sunlight.

Modern paddy planting can use GPS-guided, unmanned autonomous vehicles. Farmers can then use drones to apply fertilisers and pesticides and use GPS-guided autonomous vehicles to harvest.

When we set a national objective to be an agriculture exporting nation, our agriculture policies, education policies and trading policies will change to support the national goals. We will then focus on the quality of our farm products to meet international standards. We will intensify our R&D to generate products based on importing countries’ requirements

Malaysia as an agriculture exporting nation is not a dream. We have been successful in exporting palm oil to the world. We are currently a big exporter of shrimps to the US and Europe. We are exporting tomatoes to the Middle East. We are also exporting vegetables and poultry to Singapore and Brunei.

we can greatly improve the quality and quantity of our farm products. By improving quality and yields, it will benefit the country in terms of food security and food safety.

Food trade across the world started thousands of years ago. There were silk roads as well as spice routes from Asia to Europe. In a globalised world, international food trade will increase by leaps and bounds. Therefore, for Malaysia’s agriculture to thrive, we must work on our comparative advantages

Malaysia has several comparative advantages. Palm oil is one of the best crops that we produce. In terms of food crops, Malaysia’s tropical fruits segment, such as durians and pineapples, as well as poultry, fish and shrimp farming, are success stories. We can further work on several emerging sectors such as modern vegetable farming to reduce our reliance on imports.

In 2021, Malaysia imported RM63 billion worth of food. This was an alarming situation. But if we improve our agricultural sector, we can greatly reduce our food import bill. If we further improve our comparative advantages by exporting more high-value agricultural products such as palm oil, fish, poultry, durians and pineapples, we can improve the balance of trade and even make food trade a surplus.

To be fair, the government is currently giving tax-free incentives for agriculture investments for 10 years. However, the application process is long and complicated. Most farming companies complain that they fail to get the tax exemption status.

The Ministry of Finance does not have enough expertise to evaluate investments in agriculture. It is currently focusing on big investments, while the vast majority of small farmers can hardly get tax incentives. I urge MoF to seriously reform the current tax exemption application process and system. It must be made easy for farmers, who are often not sophisticated enough to apply for complicated tax exemption. When more farmers make money from agriculture, they will produce more.