Answer to reducing country’s food import bill lies in our own backyard, say experts

PETALING JAYA: The answer to reducing the country’s import bill and national food security may literally lie in our own backyard, say experts.

They said back in the old days, people planted crops near their homes for personal consumption with extra produce sold at local markets.

They said reviving this culture could not only resolve “big picture” problems such as reducing imports and ensuring food security but also lead to lower food prices and ensure food consumed is healthy and nutritious.

According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia’s food imports in 2022 was RM75.6bil compared to exports of RM44.6bil – which led to an increase in food product trade deficit of RM31bil, which was 24.3% higher than in 2021.

Economist Prof Emeritus Dr Barjoyai Bardai said it is time Malaysians think more about self-sufficiency by getting their hands a little dirty with planting crops around their houses.

“We should go back to the basics in terms of our food security industry. It must be designed and modelled to be really self-sufficient.

“From that, we will be able to reduce imports, lower the prices, ensure food security, control the cartels instead of them controlling us and the industry – and we get to eat healthier food,” he said when contacted.

Barjoyai said while certain food items that only grow in cold climates may still need to be imported, other long-forgotten local vegetables typically served as ulam (salads) could be commercialised.

This, he said, includes kacang botol (four-angled beans), ulam raja (Cosmos caudatus or king’s salad), pucuk paku (fiddlehead greens) and pucuk ubi (tapioca shoots), which he said are rich in nutrients.

However, he said the government has to play a role in such initiatives by teaching and providing various technologies to the public to ensure productivity.

“When we lived in kampungs, we had plenty of space to plant crops but nowadays, the issue is space. “However, there are solutions which require the government’s assistance.

“For example, horizontal aquaponics will allow us to plant crops on top and breed fish at the bottom. You have two sources of food there,” he said.

To ensure a sufficient supply of chicken and eggs, Barjoyai said Malaysia could emulate a method employed by South Korea where the government provides an ecosystem where villages are given a certain amount of chickens to raise.

After 45 days, he said the Korean government collects from and pays villagers for the chickens and eggs.

As for rice, Barjoyai suggested Putrajaya adopt Cornell University’s System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technology to address sluggishness in padi production, which has been proven to work in several countries such as Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Myanmar.

“Currently, our padi farmers struggle to produce five tonnes of rice per hectare of rice while the SRI technology can boost this up to 12 and 15 tonnes.

He said his team tried the method in Kota Baru, Kelantan and saw results within six months.

He said using SRI technology, Malaysia could produce 100% meat or more of the country’s demand for rice.

“This means we can reduce imports and clip the wings of the cartels currently controlling our industry,” he said.

Another way to improve padi yield, according to Malaysian Food Security and Sovereignty Forum chief coordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad, is to allow farmers to choose the padi seeds instead of forcing seeds chosen by certain selected companies on them.

He said the government needs to understand that not all padi seeds are suitable for all soil types in the country.

“Different areas have different types of soil. Some are acidic, some have more water and such.

“Allowing certain companies to dictate which seeds farmers should use is counter-productive.

“Giving farmers the freedom to choose will lead to more innovations in the industry and an increase in yield,” he said.

Nurfitri also suggested that the government hold nationwide campaigns to create awareness about the high nutrition of local crops rather than relying on imported crops such as tomato, cabbage and cauliflower.

He said it is important for the government to remind people of neglected and underutilised species (NUS) local crops.

“We want more Western food items and so we forgot about ulam raja, pucuk paku and pucuk manis,” he said.

In 2016, the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) said although Malaysia is capable of producing most of the vegetables it imports, items such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower grown in Cameron Highlands are limited to the agro-tourism industry there and are only supplied to niche hypermarkets.