LETTERS: TOP-PERFORMING countries in food security have vibrant and healthy agricultural ecosystems that include technology, and involve producers, financiers, policymakers, educators and consumers.
These ecosystems support the following key principle policies:
DESIGNATE national security status for food and water. Selected food items should be put under the complete self-sufficiency initiative (CSS). A committee or a special task force should be set up to oversee this.
All parts of the CSS-categorised food supply chain have to be localised to ensure availability and management of costs.
Establish a dedicated CSS network under the national security provision, with links to suppliers, small farmers, local agri-techpreneurs and retailers.
THE food supply chain will function according to market forces under normal circumstances. In the event of a crisis or an emergency, the network will carry out special national security functions.
For example, players in the supply chain will commit to transparency, mutually agree for costs and prices to be controlled to shorten the supply chain and minimise transfer prices, thus ensuring the survivability of industry players and minimising price impacts on end-consumers.
DEEP utilisation of technologies to overcome traditional limitations on yield, productivity, costs, climate/environment and nutrients. The policy calls for heavy investments and budgetary allocations.
RESEARCH must include innovative ways to localise complex supply chain inputs. For instance, chicken feed consists of many ingredients such as vitamins, salts and minerals, and not all could be localised.
Therefore, simply having corn fields in Perlis may not suffice to substitute imported feed. This will require innovative solutions, including combining locally produced corn with palm kernel waste and by-products from meat/bone processing to increase nutritional value and using fermented residues from other agricultural farms as dietary supplements.
ADDRESS manpower and talent shortages. Short-term measures involve access to foreign talent and labour, but medium-to long-term strategy must shift to homegrown talent.
THERE is a need to encourage youth (unemployed and underemployed) to relocate to rural areas and develop rural regions, turning them into attractive places to reside in. This will create jobs and boost economy in underdeveloped areas and improve the livelihoods of underserved populations.
In terms of food security, Malaysia must improve as it had a "very weak" score of 18.5 per cent in the "Oceans, Rivers and Lakes" indicator under the Global Food Security Index 2021. It is far below the world average score of 60.9 per cent.
Malaysia also garnered the highest risk rating of five for agricultural water risk, above the world average risk score of 3.3.
This indicates serious water pollution, impacting our ability to produce food in the agriculture sector as 70 per cent of water resources are for the agricultural industry, according to researchers.
In an EMIR Research article titled "We Forgot Water in the Food Security Equation" in April last year, the water security and water resource management calls for the internalisation and practice of a circular economy across all sectors.
Localisation of supply chains under the CSS initiative provides the opportunity for supply chain transparency and control to address halal-related scandals such as halal meat cartel and the recent alleged violation of halal protocols by a slaughterhouse in Australia.
The localised supply chains allow Malaysia's halal industry to pioneer a testbed for new standards in halal certification, moving beyond the traditional assessment of "end-user harm" to a holistic "total supply chain footprint harm".
Thus, in addition to addressing national food security, rural development and alleviating youth underemployment and unemployment, this positions Malaysia to capture a projected US$5 trillion global halal market in 2030, as reported in the Halal Industry Master Plan 2030.
Total security may not always be achievable by a single nation, that is, no country has all the resources for total insulation and sustained self-sufficiencies.
So Malaysia must push for treaties with other nations, whereby signatory countries or member nations (for example, Asean) to keep trade routes and borders open for basic humanitarian needs such as certain food, water, and medicines (which the nation has an excess of or which it can trade) and defence-related agreements.
DR RAIS HUSSIN AMEEN KAMAL
EMIR Research, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times