KRI PRESS |
Apr 19, 2019
Khazanah Research Institute Urges Malaysians to Shift The Way We Think About Rice and Food Security
Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) today launched its latest publication “The Status of the Paddy and Rice Industry in Malaysia” (KRI Rice Report) at its event “The State of Food in Malaysia”.
The KRI Rice Report, led by Dr Sarena Che Omar, Research Associate, aims to study the challenges faced by the industry across the whole supply chain. Key topics covered in the report include the concept of food security, few paddy varieties, improving trust between millers and farmers, and understanding rice consumption.
The key takeaways from the report are:
Food Security is more than just rice production. It is multidimensional, covering aspects of availability, accessibility, utilisation and stability. Rice production and self-sufficiency only covers the availability dimension. Furthermore, it does not capture the nutritional importance of other food. It is timely for our policies to expand and incorporate food quality factors such as sustainable farming, food safety and nutrition in the cultivation of paddy and other food items.
The paddy industry is weak as a result of segment favouritism. To truly protect 200,000 paddy farmers and 31 million consumers, we must nurture trust and strengthen the whole supply chain. Focussing only on farmers or consumers at the expense of other players within the supply chain, will only weaken the industry. By adopting farm management practices with a win-win outcome between farmers and millers, and technologies that enables product traceability and data transparency, the industry can be strengthened. Examples of this include expanding the adoption of contract farming models and Blockchain technology.
Malaysia is slow in the release of new paddy varieties. Malaysia has released fewer paddy varieties compared to other rice-producing countries. This restricts our farmer’s ability to choose varieties best suited to their ever-changing farm conditions, thereby limiting their farm’s output capacity. It takes 10 - 12 years to develop one paddy variety, so we cannot expect the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) to be doing this alone. The participation of breeders from the private sector and universities should be encouraged to help spur the release of more varieties. This could be achieved by reviewing and updating the plant variety recognition processes and the overseeing committees. Furthermore, these processes should be made easily understandable, transparent and available to the public.
The poor, rural residents and migrants are the most vulnerable consumers. Households in the below 40% (B40) group, rural areas and non-citizens spend a higher proportion of their monthly food and beverages expenditure on rice, compared to their respective counterparts. For some consumers such as undocumented workers, their consumption is invisible, and are therefore easily left behind, making these communities even more vulnerable. Inclusive policies must be conscious of the vulnerabilities of both visible and invisible consumers.
"To strengthen our paddy and rice industry, we must make sure that no segment of the supply chain or any community within this country, is left behind", said Dr Sarena.
To learn more about the paddy and rice industry in Malaysia, visit KRI’s website at www.krinstitute.org for the full report and summary in infographics.
The KRI Rice Report, led by Dr Sarena Che Omar, Research Associate, aims to study the challenges faced by the industry across the whole supply chain. Key topics covered in the report include the concept of food security, few paddy varieties, improving trust between millers and farmers, and understanding rice consumption.
The key takeaways from the report are:
Food Security is more than just rice production. It is multidimensional, covering aspects of availability, accessibility, utilisation and stability. Rice production and self-sufficiency only covers the availability dimension. Furthermore, it does not capture the nutritional importance of other food. It is timely for our policies to expand and incorporate food quality factors such as sustainable farming, food safety and nutrition in the cultivation of paddy and other food items.
The paddy industry is weak as a result of segment favouritism. To truly protect 200,000 paddy farmers and 31 million consumers, we must nurture trust and strengthen the whole supply chain. Focussing only on farmers or consumers at the expense of other players within the supply chain, will only weaken the industry. By adopting farm management practices with a win-win outcome between farmers and millers, and technologies that enables product traceability and data transparency, the industry can be strengthened. Examples of this include expanding the adoption of contract farming models and Blockchain technology.
Malaysia is slow in the release of new paddy varieties. Malaysia has released fewer paddy varieties compared to other rice-producing countries. This restricts our farmer’s ability to choose varieties best suited to their ever-changing farm conditions, thereby limiting their farm’s output capacity. It takes 10 - 12 years to develop one paddy variety, so we cannot expect the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) to be doing this alone. The participation of breeders from the private sector and universities should be encouraged to help spur the release of more varieties. This could be achieved by reviewing and updating the plant variety recognition processes and the overseeing committees. Furthermore, these processes should be made easily understandable, transparent and available to the public.
The poor, rural residents and migrants are the most vulnerable consumers. Households in the below 40% (B40) group, rural areas and non-citizens spend a higher proportion of their monthly food and beverages expenditure on rice, compared to their respective counterparts. For some consumers such as undocumented workers, their consumption is invisible, and are therefore easily left behind, making these communities even more vulnerable. Inclusive policies must be conscious of the vulnerabilities of both visible and invisible consumers.
"To strengthen our paddy and rice industry, we must make sure that no segment of the supply chain or any community within this country, is left behind", said Dr Sarena.
To learn more about the paddy and rice industry in Malaysia, visit KRI’s website at www.krinstitute.org for the full report and summary in infographics.
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