Page 4 - Berita Sunway - Issue 68

EAT TO LIVE

or LIVE TO EAT?

Although Malaysia is generally "food secure" at
the national level, ranking 23 out of 113 countries
ON THE COVER
in the Global Food Security Index 2019, food insecurity

still exists at the household level. Here’s our analysis.

very person has the fundamental right to access adequate,
safe and nutritious food, and to be free from hunger. This
E is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goal No 2, which is to end hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition, as well as promote sustainable agriculture
by 2030.
With the global population estimated to exceed 9 billion people
by 2050, ensuring food security will be essential in achieving a
sustainable development and a sustainable world.
The United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security defines
food security as “all people, at all times, have physical, social,
and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that
meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and
healthy life.”
WHY FOOD SECURITY MATTERS status without successful agricultural transformation,” said Firas
Rad, the World Bank country manager for Malaysia, as quoted in
Among the benefits of having secure access to food are economic the World Bank report, ‘Agricultural Transformation and Inclusive
growth, job creation, poverty reduction, trade opportunities, Growth: the Malaysian Experience’ launched last November.
BERITA SUNWAY | APR—JUN 2020
increased global security and stability, improved health and
healthcare as well as social stability. Agricultural development plays a major role in improving food
security and nutrition by increasing the quantity and diversity of
“A country can never go wrong food, as well as driver of economic transformation.
investing in food. The benefits in Agriculture is also the main source of income for many people
food sector development are multi- living in extreme poverty. An estimated 1.3 billion people
dimensional,” said Datin Paduka worldwide make their living in the agriculture sector, according
Professor Dr Fatimah Mohd Arshad, to a 2016 report on sustainable agriculture development by the
director of the Institute of Agricultural UN Committee on World Food Security.
and Food Policy Studies at Universiti “Agriculture and the industry are highly interrelated. Agriculture
Putra Malaysia and visiting senior fellow provides food for the industry and the latter creates demand. The
at the Khazanah Research Institute. close interaction between the two makes the economy expand and
become more dynamic and achieve faster growth, as seen in the
Other advantages of food security are nutrition security, growth US, China, France and other developed economies,” said Fatimah.
of the food industry, export earnings, and reduced foreign
exchange outflow, said Fatimah, who was appointed as a member Malaysia’s food imports have been rising by an average of 6.5%
of the National Agriculture Advisory Council last year to help annually from RM30 billion in 2010 to RM50 billion in 2018.
the government raise the level of national food security and Fatimah believes that it is far-fetched for Malaysia to achieve zero
agricultural exports. food imports, given the low adoption of agriculture technology and
high production costs compared to neighbouring countries.
The lack of food security can have drastic consequences -
malnutrition, hunger and even conflict. In 2007 and into the first “We have a lot to catch up. Most countries do import food that
half of 2008, sharp increases in global food prices resulted in they can’t produce domestically. For example, Malaysia imports
social unrest and riots in developing and developed economies. cheese, wine for the hospitality sector as well as powdered
and fresh milk for children and the elderly. Open trade allows
AGRICULTURE IN FOOD SECURITY countries to exchange in food commodities. A 100% dependence
on food import can be fatal to a very poor country but not a
4 “At the heart of a country’s economic structural transformation rich country like Singapore. The nation imports most of its
is agriculture. No country has made a transition to high-income food requirements due to limited land area but it topped the

05/05/2020 2:58 PM
GBMC-JL-082-20 Berita Sunway Issue 68-FA_2.indd 4
GBMC-JL-082-20 Berita Sunway Issue 68-FA_2.indd 4 05/05/2020 2:58 PM