PHNOM PENH: Climate change poses a growing threat to Malaysia's food security, with erratic weather patterns and rising temperatures disrupting global agriculture, says Dautk Seri Mohamad Sabu.
As domestic food production faces increasing risks, the Agriculture and Food Security Minister cautioned that Malaysia and the region remain vulnerable to climate change threats, emphasising the need for regional collaboration to address potential food shortages.
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"We have enough stock of rice for at least six months. But we don't know what will happen because of climate change, so food security is important.
"We have to work with other countries in the region to safeguard our food security. Our padi production was 71% before but now it is only 56%.
"About 20,000ha of padi land were converted for housing projects and our young generation refuses to work in the padi fields because of low income," he told Bernama in Phnom Penh.
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Mohamad Sabu made a two-day visit to the Kingdom at the end of February to hold discussions with his counterpart, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Dith Tina.
The main topics that surfaced during the discussion were food security, rice imports (mainly fragrant rice), aquaculture, fisheries and agriculture sector cooperation.
Cambodia's rice exports totalled 651,522 tonnes last year. Over 100,000 metric tonnes went to China, while Asean countries procured nearly 130,000 metric tonnes.
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It exports a variety of rice, including fragrant rice, white grains, parboiled rice, and organic rice. The "Sen Kro Ob" fragrance long-grain rice variety is renowned worldwide.
Malaysia imports about 50,000 metric tonnes of fragrant rice from Cambodia, contributing to the 30%, or 700,000 metric tonnes, of rice imports needed to meet the country's national consumption of nearly 2.5 million metric tonnes.
Geopolitical challenges, uncertain export policies of rice producers and erratic weather conditions could quickly disrupt supply in the international market, thereby impacting importing countries.
"We had a rice problem in Malaysia last year, especially when India stopped exports of white rice to other countries because they had their internal problems," he said.
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India, the world's second major rice exporter after China, temporarily banned non-basmati rice exports in 2023 to curb high inflation and rising domestic food prices. However, last year the Indian government lifted the ban.
Mohamad Sabu said Malaysia and Cambodia did not sign any agreements during his recent trip but discussed rice production extensively as the Kingdom produces five times more rice than Malaysia.
"Cambodia has plenty of padi farms and produces quality rice for exports. Perhaps, we could buy more in the future if needed.
"Their fisheries sector is also strong, for instance, snakehead fish. They have plenty here," said the minister.
According to the General Department of Customs and Excise, bilateral trade reached US$780mil as of November last year. - Bernama
