Long-term food self-sufficiency plan needed – LDP

KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) deputy secretary David Ong has called on the government to think of a longterm food self-sufficiency plan to buffer from volatile world food markets supply and create job opportunities for those impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid19) crisis.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, he said Malaysia would have enough rice to last up to 2.5 months after Vietnam suspended its exports of rice amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Malaysia is highly dependent on import for food supplies. If major exporting countries like China, Vietnam, Thailand suspend agriculture trade with Malaysia due to coronavirus crisis, it will put our country in a very vulnerable position”.

Therefore, Ong said the government should come out with an urgent plan and policy to lower food import dependency and target Malaysia to become a food self-sufficiency nation in the long term.

“Malaysia produces 71 percent of the rice we need to be selfsufficient, fruits 66 percent, vegetables 40 percent and ruminants 29 percent.

“Moving forward, we must put food security on high priority to be resilient.

“The government must further ensure distribution of farm produce is accessible to local communities especially to those who are vulnerable and in isolation at an affordable price”.

According to Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) about 2.4 million jobs are expected to be lost in the impending economic and labour crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

“Many have lost their jobs due to coronavirus crisis, one way to help the unemployed is to recruit them and quickly retrain them to do agricultural work.

“The government should team up with private sectors, NGOs or agricultural industry experts to educate, and run farming skill courses so many can venture into agriculture”.

“The government must protect agriculture industry, provide incentive or subsidy for new players and nurture homegrown production to become selfsufficient and not just leave food supplies to the mercy of global markets,” Ong said.