IF the Strait of Hormuz were to close – triggering a fuel crisis and exposing the risks of the agricultural sector’s heavy dependence on imported feed and pesticides – should Malaysia begin considering greater self-sufficiency in these areas?
That was the question posed to Datuk Jeffrey Ng Choon Ngee, adviser to the Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Associations of Malaysia by Sin Chew Daily in a recent interview.
Indonesia, for one, has already started large-scale corn cultivation to achieve feed independence. Could Malaysia follow a similar path?
Interestingly, Ng believes such a move would actually result in higher costs because Malaysia lacks the necessary land scale and economic efficiency, and it could ultimately require government subsidies.
He says the reality simply does not allow it. Indonesia is a good example – most of its corn is domestically grown rather than imported, but feed corn procurement prices are currently around RM1,500 per tonne. The question is whether the market can bear such costs.
As he explains, very few countries rely entirely on locally grown corn to support their livestock industries. The key issue is how a country can best utilise its land to generate maximum economic returns.
According to him, when discussing food security, a country must understand its strengths and weaknesses, develop industries where it has a competitive advantage, generate greater income, and then purchase cheaper and more efficient raw materials instead of forcing itself into uncompetitive and unprofitable sectors.
“Palm oil prices are very strong now. If you stop planting palm oil and instead grow lower-yield corn, isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? We should not be overly idealistic without understanding the realities on the ground.”
Ng also reveals that Malaysia’s livestock industry is actually keeping pace with modern developments. It is a highly capital-intensive industry, and with labour becoming increasingly difficult to hire, many operators are moving toward automation, including installing solar power systems and adopting green technologies.
However, livestock farming is not a high-profit-margin business, he stresses. Operators cannot simply purchase expensive high-tech equipment without considering costs, and every investment must be evaluated based on its return period.
“Many closed-house poultry farms involve very high capital investment. To remain competitive, they must reduce electricity costs. Many operators have installed solar systems, but solar power still cannot fully replace conventional electricity at night because solar batteries remain expensive and have limited lifespans. As a result, many farms use solar energy during the day and rely on grid electricity at night.”
When asked whether Malaysia needs a longer-term and more systematic food security plan, Ng says the world has been discussing the same issue for decades. In reality, unless there are extreme climate events, major natural disasters, or large-scale wars that make farmland unusable for long periods, there is no need to be overly worried about food supply disruptions.
“More than 20 years ago, people were already worried that the world would run out of food. But today, many countries are actually facing food surpluses and are forced to dump excess produce.
“So I keep wondering whether this so-called global food crisis will truly happen,” he says.
As an example of a big global food crisis, he cites the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, when volcanic ash blocked sunlight, causing abnormal global cooling. Snow fell in places where it normally never snowed, sunlight could not penetrate the atmosphere, and crops failed to grow.
“That is when a truly severe food crisis would occur,” Ng notes.
