Infrastructure is key to agriculture, says professor

KUALA LUMPUR: The provision of basic infrastructure, especially water supply and roads, by the government can help increase productivity and optimise the use of idle or underutilised agricultural land, says a Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) lecturer.

Prof Dr Norsida Man, from its Faculty of Agriculture, said that one of the reasons agricultural land remains unused by its owners is the lack of infrastructure such as water supply.

“Some agricultural land owners intend to cultivate their land, but factors like a shortage of water sources lead to the abandonment.

“The government should prioritise improving these essential infrastructures first, because only when they are in place can landowners do what needs to be done. When issues like water supply arise, it becomes impossible for them to utilise the land.

“So, the federal or state governments, need to work together to make these agricultural areas more productive,” she told Bernama.

According to Prof Norsida, the implementation of the Permanent Food Production Park (TKPM) model needs to be expanded to achieve its goal of optimising the use of agricultural land.

“However, the government needs to encourage farmers to participate in it,” she said.

Recently, the media reported that the National Food Resource Area Land Use Planning Study by the Town and Country Planning Department indicated that only 817,000ha, or 16% of the 5.36 million hectares of agricultural land, are being used for food production.

The self-sufficiency rate projection in the National Agrofood Policy 2.0 suggests that Malaysia will require about 1.3 million hectares of land for food production by 2030 to meet the demand for food.