Strengthen supply chain and raise domestic production to secure food supply, govt. advised

Sunway University Business School Professor of Economics Dr Yeah Kim Leng pointed out that food security is about meeting basic needs rather than economics. Next to public health, food security is at the top of the priority list and as such, the supply chain needs to be protected. Dr Yeah said “ what is crucial is that Malaysia secures a resilient supply chain to protect the nation from changing weather conditions. Failure to do so, on the extreme, could lead to starvation.” Malaysia has depended on food imports for years and last year, the bill came up to a whopping RM55.5 billion, and the highest ever. According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia is highly dependent on imports of mutton (RM879.4 million spent last year), mangoes (RM87.9 million), coconuts (RM266.1 million) and beef (RM2.2 billion). These are imported from Australia, Thailand, India and Indonesia respectively.