Are We “Chicken” To Ensure Food Security?

The price of chicken has been going up over several weeks. Food security largely refers to the ability of a country to ensure an affordable supply of food for its citizens. It is measured by import dependency and self-sufficiency ratios, which measure how much selected agricultural commodities are imported. Poultry meat as well as chicken and duck eggs are particularly important food as they are the most consumed animal products in Malaysia and are a key source of protein.

According to a recent Malaysiakini report, Malaysians consumed 47.4kg of poultry meat and 20.7kg of chicken and duck eggs per person in 2020, compared to other meat like beef (5.7kg per person), mutton (1.3kg) and pork (17.5kg).

According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia is becoming more dependent on imported food products and is running a trade deficit in this area. The import dependency ratio rose to 13.7 percent in 2015, up from 7.4 percent in 1987. In 2020, food Malaysia was reliant on imports include mangoes (86.2 percent imported), round cabbage (63.6 percent), cuttlefish (52.5 percent), mutton (90.4 percent), beef (78.1 percent) and fresh milk (53.5 percent). However, Malaysia is considered self-sufficient in poultry meat, producing some 98.2 percent of its domestic needs.

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said the sharp increase in the cost of corn and soybean feed resulted in a 70 percent hike in poultry farming costs. The government controls prices for key food items and has set a ceiling price for chicken. To ensure this, it provides a subsidy for chicken feed to farmers at a tune of 60 sen per kilogramme. However, some farmers complained that there had been delays in the disbursement, so the chickens were not getting the same amount and quality of feed intake.

The weakening ringgit also means that the subsidy may not be enough. This means the chicks are growing slower, so poultry producers cannot supply at the same rate. It has also prompted some chicken processing factories to shut down temporarily while waiting for the chicken to grow to the size needed.

In April, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that 80,000ha nationwide will be used to plant grain corn by the year 2023, and it encouraged private large scale farming of this crop. It is unclear if this is linked to the Grain Corn Development Masterplan (2018-2032) launched by the government in 2016 with the aim of producing 30 percent of grain corn required for domestic consumption.

The government had grappled with the grain corn production issue since the 1980s when it was identified as a key vulnerability to the nation’s food security. From 1989 to 1992, a commercial trial was conducted, but the yield was low compared to other crops such as oil palm and thus deemed unsustainable. The project was terminated in 1996.

Obviously, not much has progressed with the pilot or the masterplan. We do make good plans but implementation is always the problem. And usually money is “thrown” at a problem, as if that alone will solve it. It is people that translate plans to actual outcome/output. We cannot blame others, systems, SOPs, weather and corruption. It is us, the people, who have to take responsibility for failures. We need to demand for accountability, otherwise there will be no progress – more of the same!

Reference:

Chicken shortage and food security – what’s behind it? Aidila Raza, Malaysiakini, 23 May 2022