Renewed focus on agricultural sector

Malaysian coffee draws visitors' attention at the third China-ASEAN Expo held last year in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China. Huo Yan

To realize this vision, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry has set new aims and objectives for the agro-food sector.

The agricultural sector has been restructured with existing foundations strengthened and new facilities established. It has also expanded its range of investment incentives, financing packages and support services.

As the nation's engine of growth, the agriculture sector is expected to be a major stimulant for the economy, creating employment, bringing in more foreign revenue and enhancing the nation's food security.

Renewed emphasis has been placed on agriculture because many farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen in the country, numbering about 1 million, are still poor and lagging in amenities and facilities. It is only fair that more attention be directed towards them so that national development is not lopsided.

The government also recognizes agriculture as a new niche in national development because manufacturing has expanded and become competitive.

Authorities feel the rapid growth in manufacturing should not sideline agriculture to the detriment of the nation and its rural communities.

Therefore, the agriculture sector should be the new niche area for a country that has a good climate, as well as an abundant supply of resources and land. Malaysia is capable of producing more rice, tropical fruits and vegetables than many countries around the world.

A shifting of priority to benefit agriculture does not represent a new approach in the country's development. Rather, it focuses on an area that was the mainstay of Malaysia's early economic development.

Agriculture was the major sector after the country became independent in 1957, making up 46 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) that year.

However during the 1970s, Malaysia's development policies and strategies shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and later on to services.

The shift to manufacturing and services over the past two decades represents the government's strategy to create jobs, restructure society, reduce poverty and boost the overall economy in line with the aspirations of the New Economic Policy.

The Malaysian government is fully aware that promoting the agricultural sector as the Third Engine of Growth and putting it back in the forefront of the country's economic growth will require a herculean task.

Given the sector's low priority over the years, stimulating its growth requires going forward by not one or two, but several steps.

This entails complete transformation of the agriculture sector to resolve many vital long-standing issues that have hindered its becoming competitive and attractive to investors.

Courtesy of the Malaysian Embassy in China

(China Daily 08/31/2007 page24)