LONG before a bowl of Nestlé (M) Bhd’s processed infant cereal branded as Cerelac reaches a baby’s bowl, its journey begins in the padi fields of Kedah.
For Nestlé Malaysia, the rice grown by local farmers is more than just a raw material. It is part of a longer effort to strengthen local food production while supporting farming communities.
The company has been working with padi farmers in Kedah and Perlis since 2012. Today, its programme involves about 200 farmers cultivating more than 600ha of padi, with two planting cycles each year.
From the fields, the harvest eventually makes its way to two local rice mills – Kilang Beras Saudara Ban Eng Hin Sdn Bhd and Chuan Huat Bee Kah Sdn Bhd – for drying, dehusking and a first round of polishing, before being sent to Ninamaju Sdn Bhd for further polishing and processing.
According to Ninamaju general manager Tan Chor Eeow, a second-generation member of the family business, the company operates three production lines, with one dedicated to Nestlé Malaysia to minimise the risk of contamination.
“As the rice is a very special grade and for babies, our food safety system is very strict,” he said, adding that the controls are particularly focused on removing heavy metals, dust, and other contaminants.
The rice supplied for Cerelac is a special “baby grade”, with strict food safety requirements. Tan said Nestlé Malaysia accounts for only about 10% or less of the turnover, but remains its single biggest customer.
From Ninamaju, the rice then travels to Nestlé Malaysia’s Shah Alam factory, a regional hub for cereals and coffee manufacturing, where it undergoes strict quality and contaminant checks before being used to make Cerelac. The locally sourced rice also goes into Nestum instant multigrain cereals, which have been consumed in Malaysia for close to 70 years.
Yeoh She Shiang, Nestlé Malaysia’s business executive officer for Nutrition, said the rice programme was established to secure high-quality rice that meets the stringent safety requirements for infant nutrition.
Cerelac is the market leader in Malaysia’s baby food segment and has been a trusted brand among Malaysians for many years, she said.
Yeoh, who holds a degree in dietetics, said one bowl of Cerelac provides 5.2mg of iron, equivalent to more than half of the 9mg recommended nutrient intake for babies each day. The cereal also provides phosphorus, calcium, and vitamins A and D, as well as protein, she added.
Nestlé Malaysia chief executive officer Juan Aranols said the company had invested more than RM6mil in its local rice development programme, although the investment went beyond financial support.
“It’s not just money. It’s also method, practices, providing the right variety of rice and sharing all the knowledge,” he told reporters during a recent media familiarisation trip to Kedah.
The support includes agricultural inputs, knowledge and training, technical guidance, and quality and traceability, as well as connecting farmers to the local market.
The programme has also delivered yields above the national average. During the August-September 2025 harvest season, the average yield was 4.96 tonnes per hectare, while the February-March 2026 harvest recorded 5.31 tonnes per hectare, compared with a national annual average of about four tonnes per hectare.
For farmer Md Nasir Md Saman, 61, the support has included advice on the use of pesticides and fertilisers, as well as machinery such as a tractor and pesticide sprayer. He said one of the machines provided through the programme cost about RM100,000.
But beyond the equipment and technical support, Nasir said the main reason he started supplying rice to Nestlé Malaysia was to produce rice that was safe for babies.
“When I started selling padi to Nestlé, I only had one goal. I wanted to produce quality padi for babies,” he said.
“Babies should not be exposed to chemicals. If we can reduce the chemicals, we can make it safer.”
Nestlé Malaysia expects around 2,800 tonnes of rice to be produced for Cerelac in 2026.
For Aranols, the programme is about more than securing a supply of rice for its factories.
He said climate change and repeated global disruptions had made food supply and food security increasingly important, making it crucial for countries to strengthen their domestic agricultural capabilities and rural communities.
“We know that food supply, because of climate change and all the disruptions that we are constantly seeing, is going to become a much more critical factor in the years to come,” he said.
“Hence, it is very important that each nation finds a way to improve this national resiliency, and continuously develop farming, have very strong rural communities that remain engaged in farming.”
The rice programme is just one part of Nestlé Malaysia’s broader push to source more agricultural products locally. The company has sourced fresh chillies from Kelantan since 1995 and has since expanded its sourcing to Selangor, Putrajaya, Negri Sembilan and Johor. It achieved 100% local sourcing of fresh chillies for its MAGGI chilli sauce in 2026.
Nestlé also began a local coffee sourcing initiative in Kedah in 2019 and plans to expand its engagement with farmers across Malaysia. Its cocoa sourcing journey began in Borneo in 2023, with the company targeting 600 cocoa farmers in Sabah and Sarawak by 2028.
Aranols said the company is looking to deepen its engagement with farmers through training, inputs, and technical support to improve yields and expand cultivations. The aim, he said, is ultimately to build a stronger local foothold in the production and supply for its products.
The push for local sourcing comes as Nestlé Malaysia grows into one of the country’s largest food manufacturers.
The company has more than 500 made-in-Malaysia and halal- certified products, generating RM6.88bil in turnover in 2025.
In the first half of 2026, these products generated RM3.69bil, up 7.5% from RM3.44bil in 1H25. Nestlé Malaysia says more than 90% of its products are made in Malaysia, by Malaysians, for Malaysians.
It is also the largest halal producer within the global Nestlé Group, with products exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.
With six manufacturing facilities, 55 sales offices and a national distribution centre in Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, the company employs close to 5,000 people nationwide. Its manufacturing workforce is fully Malaysian.
For Nestlé Malaysia, the local sourcing effort is also of a much bigger effort to build a more locally connected food supply chain – from the farmers who grow the crops to the products consumed by Malaysian families.
