Malaysia: Explore urban farming technologies to boost food production
Due to the technologies employed, such as rooftop farming, aquaponics, hydroponics and horticulture, urban farming does not need a sizeable amount of land and can be recreated without one.
Professor Dr Suhaiza Hanim Mohamad Zailani
Director, Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies,
Universiti Malaya
New Straits Times
Jun 15, 2023
Excerpt:
Malaysia scored moderately for hunger on the 2022 Global Hunger Index, with a slight increase in the hunger index from 10.9 in 2014 to 12.5 in 2022, most likely reflecting an increase in food insecurity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alongside the pandemic, there is a relationship between food insecurity and poverty.
The minimum wage in Malaysia is RM1,500, despite the fact that the Department of Statistics reports that the country’s poverty line income is RM2,208.
Low-income families with single working parents and those earning RM1,500 monthly may find that their household earnings are insufficient to sustain a stable life as prices of food and other necessities keep increasing.
To guarantee that the nation always has a sufficient food supply, even during emergencies like the pandemic, increasing domestic food production is crucial in this circumstance.
To improve the agriculture sector’s performance, we can prioritise climate-friendly agriculture on agricultural lands, transfer high-yielding technologies to croplands, manage water resources, improve product efficiency and handle agricultural waste.
