Global chain reaction to food security

The Johor Baru City Council has 33 community farms under its jurisdiction in efforts to help the people generate more income, increase food security and establish more greenery in the city. — Filepic/The Star

GLOBAL food demand and supply are interlinked, and any instability in the local or global supply chain will have an impact on our food security. Therefore, the variability in extreme weather such as floods or droughts can influence the whole global supply chain, says Universiti Malaya climate specialist Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah.

“The present war in Ukraine has an impact on edible oil prices since both Ukraine and Russia export a lot of edible oils, like sunflower oil. Now this supply chain is disrupted by war and sanctions. Similarly, a major drought in Thailand or China or Australia will impact the supply and cost of rice,” he says.

Prof Azizan explains that as Malaysia is not self-sufficient in food production, we are both directly and indirectly linked to the global supply chain.

“China is buying up agricultural land all over the world to ensure that it has food security. I am not saying that we can do the same but certainly there are thousands of acres of abandoned agricultural land in Peninsular Malaysia that are now fragmented. We need innovative programmes to consolidate them and increase our self-sufficiency,” he says.

For Prof Azizan, investment in R&D is key to creating more agricultural resilience against climate change. — Pic provided

For Prof Azizan, investment in research and development (R&D) is key to creating more agricultural resilience against climate change. This could mean encouraging smallholder farmers to plant food produce, while big agro-industries like the Federal Land Development Authority and Sime Darby can give more attention to the food growing market instead of cash crops.

As a comparison, in 2018, five million hectares of land in Malaysia were being cultivated for palm oil. Meanwhile, only one million hectares had been set aside for food crops.

We should also look to our marine resources: “Malaysia is blessed in many ways, we sit in some of the most productive tropical seas: the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the Anda-man Sea. We need to look after our marine ecosystem and try to control overfishing and illegal fishing, especially in the Strait of Malacca,” he advises.

Despite the challenges we face, Prof Azizan believes that given human innovation and R&D, it is possible to grow enough food.

“Mass starvation nowadays is more due to political instability than climate variability. The world has enough food for all, but it is not equally shared,” he says, emphasising the critical need for food equity.

This is true even for Malaysia: While we have plenty of food for now, there is also a lot of wastage.

According to the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp Malaysia), about 16,667.5 tonnes of food waste is generated in Malaysia daily. Of this, 24% is classified as still edible, sufficient to provide three meals for nearly 2,970,000 people a day.

As we move towards ensuring food security for the nation, we need to guarantee that food is not only enough to fulfil demand, but that it is distributed equally and without egregious wastage.