MALAYSIA - SHORT OF RICE?

IS MALAYSIA SHORT OF RICE? It was an issue discussed in major media in Malaysia since middle of 2023 recently. The other report stated that local rice has gone missing. Local media reported that it was not just consumers who are wondering but also the wholesalers and retailers keep asking: where is local rice as a very good question. If Malaysia able to produce 70% then it must be in the shops. But it is not there!. The local hypermarket owner Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin as owner of the Mydin Hypermarket chain and president of the popular Bumiputera Retailers Organisation claimed that local rice had disappeared a couple of months ago. From hypermarkets to supermarkets to retailers are saying the supply of local rice has been negligible. This fits a Malaysian pattern. When prices of imported goods go up, local goods are "made" to disappear, only to reappear as imported ones. Put it to greedy commerce. Today the local rice has a control price of RM26 per 10kg, while imported rice is being sold at RM33 per 10kg. A price difference of RM7 per bag is quite a temptation many find hard to resist. Next week he claomed that when the price of imported rice is slated to be RM39 per 10kg, he expects more local rice to be dressed up as imported rice. Question such as are syndicates going around shops buying all the local rice for a later sale? No. Millers and wholesalers are not supplying the outlets. And what is the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry's response? We have asked the millers and rice wholesalers to increase the local white rice supply by 20 per cent. He would do the same as a fellow marketer they are pointing to the shelves empty of local rice and the ministry is talking of having squeezed an agreement to supply 20 per cent more. He has every right to be baffled for himself and on behalf of his fellow retailers. Where is the proof of this "extra" 20 per cent, Ameer Ali asks. Here is the thing. Local rice shortage is a two-month-old story. Mydin and other outlets' shelves have been receiving less than their allocation since then. The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry should have done something by now. Let's be generous by ignoring this early notice and focus on its engagement with the millers and rice wholesalers on Aug 27. He claimed that as they breathe the air of today with nine days removed from that August day they has the right to ask, as this newspaper asked yesterday: "Where is the local rice?" It appears to us that in the last nine months, Malaysia has acquired a new habit: let's wait for the prime minister. Let's be blunt. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim may have broad enough shoulders to bear the weight of the cabinet, but he can't do everything. Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, do something to get the bags of local rice to hypermarkets, supermarkets and retail outlets. In the meantime, there is a piece of advice from Ameer Ali for the government to ponder. Try not to be too obsessed with price. He said that he is right. It distorts our economy. Instead, he advises that Putrajaya focus on supply. Two things must go as claimed before distortion of the economy disappears. One is price control. Take local rice as controlled price has been fixed at RM2.60 per kg since 2008. He said that is unreal in which only two authorised body is monopoly. More than one player no duopoly and he added please means better supply and fairer prices. This article based on portal nst.com in "Anim Agriculture Technology'' rewrite the local report about there are short of rice in Malaysia for readings.

On other report at NST titled 'Shortage of local rice in Malaysia due to diseases and lack of clean water' as that was the cause of drastic turn of events is forcing consumers to buy the more expensive imported supply. Currently reported that there was a limited supply of locally produced rice in many supermarkets and grocery stores. That supply has dwindled to almost nothing and is hitting consumers where it hurts the most of their pockets. in this drastic turn of events is forcing consumers to buy imported rice in which is more expensive than locally produced rice. The grocery store owners and rice distributors say it has been some time since they last received stocks of the price-controlled in which it was locally produced variety. For example, for Mr Rahman, who owns and runs a grocery store in Kelang, Selangor has said that his three rice distributors have stopped sending him local rice. Two of them told him in early August 2023 that they cannot supply local rice anymore and the third distributor gave me 20 bags in the middle of August and said that was all he had. He is now receiving only imported rice in which retails at RM33 (S$9.60) for a 10kg bag, but his distributors have warned him that the price could soon increase. The price of imported rice is not controlled and it can just spiral. For rice distributor Osman has said that he has not received local rice from his main supplier since early August 2023. He said that he now has only imported rice and adding that such rice should make up only 30 per cent of what he sells in which the remaining 70 per cent being rice produced by local farmers. The general assumption about the shortage is that the demand for locally produced rice has surpassed the available supply, but padi farmers have a different story to tell. For padi farmer Yap Kang Pua from Sekinchan town in Selangor said the shortage was due to a drastically reduced yield. He added that one of the reasons behind this was the dirty water used to irrigate padi fields. His yield is very bad because we have to pump water from the nearby waterways into the fields, but the water from this source is contaminated. He is explaining that this caused many plants to die before reaching maturity. He said that the problem of the shortage of clean water for the padi fields first took root almost a decade ago and has escalated to the current situation. He added that the only solution was for the relevant authorities to tap underground water and build a covered storage area for farmers to water their fields. As for other Sekinchan padi farmer known as Mr Mohd Asri Badron, said that seeds given to farmers are of poor quality, causing them to succumb to diseases such as bacterial leaf streak disease (BLS), bacterial leaf blight (BLB) and bacterial panicle blight (BPB). As for comparison, the hybrid seeds used by farmers in most other regional rice-producing nations are “sturdier and can fight infection better. He expressed hope that these seeds could also be made available to Malaysian padi farmers. To counter bacterial infection to increase yield, Mr Asri said most padi farmers must spend additional money to buy and use organic fertiliser and products to cultivate good bacteria. By cultivating good bacteria to battle the destructive BLS, BLB or BPB can be helpful in increasing yield. From sourcea as the president of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations known as Datuk Marimuthu Nadason has said the government must realise that rice is the main staple food in Malaysia. Since there is a shortage here, the government must source new markets so that Malaysia will have the bargaining power to negotiate better pricing. He claimed that Malaysia is importing rice from the same few markets and not shopping around for cheaper alternatives. He also suggested that the government could expand padi cultivation by using available idle land to plant rice. Sekinchan assemblyman and Selangor executive councillor Ng Suee Lim said the authorities must monitor the distribution chain because of suspicions that local rice is being packaged and sold as the imported variety. There is a syndicate behind this, and when they repackage local rice and sell it as an imported product, they will be selling it for between RM33 and RM35, which is higher than the RM26 price set for 10kg of local rice as he did believe. Thanks. Source:NST.

Thanks..

By,
M Anem,
Melaka,
Malaysia.
(October 2023).