December 1, 2010

Malaysia looking to form strategic alliances for food production

Malaysia is looking into forming strategic alliances with other countries for food production, said Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He said under such an arrangement, Malaysia would venture into developing food production hubs in the partner countries.

"This will be more cost effective than increasing food production acreage in Malaysia," he said after simultaneously launching the Malaysian Agriculture and Agrotourism (MAHA) international exposition and National Farmers, Breeders and Fishermen's Day 2010 at the Malaysian Agro-Exposition Park on Saturday (Nov 27).

"This is one of the initiatives that can be taken to ensure food security for Malaysia. We have taken various steps towards this purpose and will continue to take steps to raise food production for the country," he said.

However, he said there was no pressing need to increase acreage for food production for now and that what was more important was to increase agricultural yields through use of new seeds, technology, and good infrastructure.

The prime minister was confident that the measures being taken would help avert a food crisis like high market prices or shortages, down the road.

Following the world food crisis in 2008, Malaysia undertook several measures under its Food Supply Guarantee Policy to raise food production in the country.

Razak also said that natural disasters could impact food production. "With climate change becoming a global phenomenon now, not a single country will be spared from its effects. What is important is how countries come together to tackle this climate change problem," he said.

He said the nation's agriculture sector continued to grow and contributed RM10.1 billion (US$3.2 billion) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 2.4% over the corresponding period last year.

Of the figure, the agro-food sector contributed RM4.7 billion (US$1.49 million) or 46.5% while the planting, breeding, and fisheries sub-sectors grew by 9.5%, 13.9%, and 7.8% respectively.