Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu tells Dewan Negara that Malaysia still imports a large portion of food needs due to limited farming land, ageing farmer workforce, high cost of food production, and cheaper imported meat than local meat.
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Mohamad Sabu has explained why Malaysia still imports a large portion of food needs, despite the agrofood industry contributing 11 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
In a written December 1 Dewan Negara reply to Senator Susan Chemerai Anding, the agriculture and food security minister cited limited farming land, ageing farmers’ workforce, high cost of food production, and cheaper imported meat than local meat.
Susan had asked why Malaysia still imports about 60 per cent of food, like rice and meat, even though paddy growers and farmers in the country are still struggling with the cost of living.
Mohamad replied that farming land in Malaysia is limited and unsuitable for large-scale agrofood farming.
“Agricultural areas for paddy rice cultivation in Peninsular Malaysia are also steadily declining. In 2021, the total area was 283,730 hectares, but this decreased to 277,124 hectares in 2024, resulting in a reduction in national paddy production,” he said.
“The average size of paddy fields among smallholder farmers is less than 2 hectares. Such small landholdings do not achieve economies of scale, thereby limiting farmers’ ability to generate sustainable income.”
Citing the Interim Report of the 2024 Agricultural Census, Mohamad said 45.4 per cent, or 458,395 individual agricultural operators, are aged 60 years and above, which affects farmers’ incomes as well as the nation’s production productivity.
The agriculture and food security minister further cited high production costs, including the price of 50 kg NPK fertiliser, which was around RM85 to RM100 in 2023 and rose to approximately RM150 to RM213 in 2024.
The cost of animal feed like grain corn has also risen by 110 per cent from RM500 per tonne to RM1,900 per tonne.
“These increases, compounded by higher labour and logistics costs, have made local produce less competitive compared with imports, thereby placing pressure on the incomes of paddy farmers and livestock breeders.”
Mohamad added that the high cost of local meat production is influenced by feed costs, labour, and small-scale farming operations, making it more expensive than imported meat.
“Imported meat, particularly imported buffalo meat from India, is sold at around RM14.94 per kilogram, while local meat was priced at RM37.84 per kilogram in 2024. This price disparity encourages consumers to choose imported meat, thereby placing pressure on local livestock farmers, constraining industry growth, and increasing the country’s reliance on imports.”
He said the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM) continues to implement various strategic interventions as outlined in the National Agro-Food Policy 2021–2030 (DAN 2.0).
“These include modernising production and large-scale mechanisation, strengthening value chains and recalibrating incentives, reducing input costs, and undertaking land structure reforms and the scaling up of operations to enhance the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, increase production resilience, and gradually reduce reliance on imports.”
Reference : Agriculture Minister Explains Malaysia’s Large Food Imports – CodeBlue