Bernama

Mohamad Sabu calls for collaboration on agriculture among Asean nations to address potential food shortages.

PHNOM PENH: Climate change poses a growing threat to Malaysia’s food security, with erratic weather patterns and rising temperatures disrupting global agriculture.

As domestic food production faces increasing risks, agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu cautioned that Malaysia and the region remain vulnerable to climate change threats, emphasising the need for regional collaboration to address potential food shortages.

“We have enough stock of rice for at least six months. But we don’t know what will happen because of climate change, so food security is important.

“We have to work with other countries in the region to safeguard our food security. Our padi production was 71% before but now it is only 56%.

“About 20,000ha of land to grow padi had been converted for housing projects. Also, the younger generation refuse to work in padi fields because of the low income,” he told Bernama in Phnom Penh.

Mohamad is visiting Cambodia to hold discussions with his counterpart, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries minister Dith Tina.

The main topics that surfaced during their discussion were on food security, rice imports (mainly fragrant rice), aquaculture, fisheries and agriculture sector cooperation.

Cambodia’s rice exports totalled 651,522 tonnes last year. Over 100,000 metric tonnes went to China, while Asean countries procured nearly 130,000 metric tonnes.

Cambodia exports a variety of rice, including fragrant rice, white grains, parboiled rice, and organic rice. The “Sen Kro Ob” fragrance long-grain rice variety is renowned worldwide.

Malaysia imports about 50,000 metric tonnes of fragrant rice from Cambodia, contributing to the 30%, or 700,000 metric tonnes, of rice imports needed to meet the country’s national consumption of nearly 2.5 million metric tonnes per annum.

Geopolitical challenges, uncertain export policies of rice producers and erratic weather conditions could quickly disrupt supply in the international market, thereby impacting importing countries.

“We had a rice problem in Malaysia last year, especially when India stopped exports of white rice to other countries because they had their internal problem,” he said.

India, the world’s second major rice exporter after China, temporarily banned non-basmati rice exports in 2023 to curb high inflation and rising domestic food prices. However, last year the Indian government lifted the ban.

Mohamad said Malaysia and Cambodia did not sign any agreements during his recent trip but discussed rice production extensively as the Kingdom produces five times more rice than Malaysia.

“Cambodia has plenty of padi farms and produces quality rice for exports. Perhaps, we could buy more in the future if needed. Their fisheries sector is also strong. For instance, snakehead fish. They have plenty here,” he said.

Published Date: March 2, 2025