KUALA LUMPUR: The agriculture industry is the way forward for Malaysia to eradicate poverty and increase job opportunities, Council of Eminent Persons chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin said.
He pointed out there was a need to make the industry more appealing as it could attract mass participation, especially among the younger generation.
“Agriculture is still the future of the country. It can provide jobs. We are always talking about unemployment, so this is one (way to do it).
“But of course the people, including the younger generation don’t want to stand (toil) under the hot sun and get their hands dirty by playing with soil.
“So, we need to make it ‘sexy’. Get people interested in it so they will do it and help the country to increase (its food production),” he said during the Nations Building Conversations titled Poverty in Malaysia: Reality vs Perception at Sunway University here today.
On the way forward for the agriculture industry, Daim said it lies within expanding and developing coconut plantations due to increased demands for coconut-based products, instead of oil palm or padi.
He said Malaysia was not producing enough coconuts to the extent that it has to rely on imports from Indonesia.
“The future now is coconut, not palm oil unless you can do more researches on how to turn palm oil into food (products). In that case, (palm oil) has a future.
“I am also against planting padi because we have to subsidise it all the time and yet, the farmers remained poor.”
Coconuts are widely distributed throughout Asia, where Indonesia is the largest producer in the world, amounting to more than 18 million metric tons (MT) in 2014.
Malaysia remained as one of the top 10 coconut producing countries in the world. Often cited as a fruit, seed or nut, coconut is the fourth important industrial crop in Malaysia after oil palm, rubber and rice.
Malaysia has progressively increased its yield for both local and international markets from 550,140 in 2010 to 624,727 MT in 2013. The production, however, showed a decreasing trend from 2014 until 2016.
In February this year, the Farmers’ Organisation Authority (LPP) announced its plan to develop a large-scale coconut plantation in Johor as part of the government’s plan to help farmers cope with the fluctuating price of crude palm oil (CPO).
However, despite the fervour to see a thriving agriculture industry, Daim said there were many present “roadblocks” that prevent interested parties from venturing into the field.
“For example, if you look at the Agrobank’s interest rate (for loans), it is higher than other banks. So how many people can get it (have their application approved)?”
According to the Statistics Department, the agriculture sector’s gross output value in 2017 registered an annual growth rate of 11.1 per cent to RM91.2 billion compared to RM73.9 billion in 2015.
Value-added for the sector increased to RM54.9 billion and the value of intermediate input also increased by 6 per cent per year from RM32.4 billion to RM36.3 billion within the same period.