KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has questioned the government’s decision to set Malaysia’s rice self-sufficiency target at 54% for 2027, below the 54.3% achieved in 2025.
The Pagoh MP said the target was also a sharp reduction from the 59.9% figure stated in the Federal Estimates of Expenditure 2027.
“I am rather puzzled when I see the rice SSR target in the Federal Estimates of Expenditure 2027 lowered from 59.9% to 54%.
“Actual achievement in 2025 was 54.3%, based on the Supply and Use Accounts of Selected Agricultural Commodities 2021-2025 report prepared by the Statistics Department,” he said during the Budget 2027 debate in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 20).
Muhyiddin said Malaysia should set targets that reflected progress rather than adjust them downwards to match an unsatisfactory performance.
He said the 13th Malaysia Plan had set a rice SSR target of 80% by 2030, questioning how that could be achieved if the 2027 target remained at 54%.
Malaysia’s dependence on rice imports remained high, he said, with imports amounting to RM3.7bil in 2024 and RM2.953bil in 2025.
Muhyiddin said the country previously produced about 70% of its rice requirements and imported the remaining 30%, but domestic production had since declined to below 60%.
He warned that the situation had reached a critical stage, as rice imports might not be dependable if rice-exporting countries faced production problems, wars or other disruptions.
The former prime minister urged the government to form a special Cabinet committee on rice supply, chaired by the Prime Minister, for five years to formulate a comprehensive master plan to increase domestic output.
He said immediate interventions were needed to improve production, pointing to the availability of land that was either not being utilised or could not be cultivated due to farmers’ age and rising agricultural input costs.
Muhyiddin said farmers were facing higher prices for fertiliser, pesticides and padi seeds.
He also called for a new Green Revolution involving large-scale and decisive measures to increase the local production of rice, meat and other agricultural products.
The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM) has been allocated RM6.92bil under Budget 2027, a marginal increase of RM50.31milor 0.73%, from the RM6.87bil provided in Budget 2026.
