Several experts have urged the government to devise a more effective mechanism to address the increasing food prices and other shortages that are happening within the country. The prices of food and various essential items have reportedly soared by 60%, while certain food items are in short supply – impacting not only the B40 group, but also the middle-income group. 

Economic analyst at the Putra Business School, Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff warned that the government must draw up short-, medium-, and long-term measures to tackle the food crisis, or the situation may become more critical. He pointed out that while recent initiatives – such as abolishing the approved permits (APs) for food imports, and suspending chicken exports – will help to manage the issue, they are only short-term measures.

“The government should quickly work on implementing medium-term and long-term measures… it can, for example, implement all the action plans outlined in the National Agrofood Policy 2.0 as soon as possible,” Dr Ahmed Razman commented, adding that the government should also fully monitor the food supply chain to prevent any parties from taking advantage of the situation. 

In addition, Dr Ahmed Razman urged the government to re-evaluate the proposed implementation of targeted subsidies, as there is no guarantee that the move can help to keep food prices low. He explained that food prices will continue to climb as the higher-income group will still have to pay the market prices for the goods.

“The government may not be able to cover the cost of providing the subsidies because this year’s total subsidies are expected to increase to RM28 billion, which is higher than the total annual collection from the sales and service tax (SST),” Dr Ahmed Razman further commented.

Similarly, the dean of the Faculty of Human Ecology at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Prof Dr Mohamad Fazli Sabri also said that the government must come up with a comprehensive mechanism to deal with the rising food prices and low food supplies.

“Before this, many people were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as the economic sector couldn’t operate fully for over two years. Now that it has reopened fully, various issues have emerged, including the hike in food prices,” Dr Mohamad Fazli stated, adding that the issues may lead to more people from the M40 group slipping into the B40 group. 

To note, the Household Income Estimates and Incidence of Poverty Report Malaysia for 2020 revealed that 12.8% of the T20 income group and 20% of the M40 income group had skidded to a lower group. 

Meanwhile, a lecturer from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Development at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Associate Prof Dr Roshaiza Taha also urged relevant bodies to work on strategies to reduce the country’s reliance on food imports. These bodies include the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA), Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Department of Agriculture, and Department of Fisheries.

“I believe these agencies have been given huge allocations to do research on sustainable food resources. It’s time for the government to evaluate the findings of their studies, especially research related to food resources,” Prof Dr Roshaiza further said.  

Finally, Prof Dr Roshaiza remarked that the government should also review any unnecessary development projects, and give priority to the food industry to ensure sufficient food supplies. This is as the current situation may have forced some B40 families to ration food, and other households to sacrifice certain food items – which should not be happening in this country.

(Source: Malay Mail)

• TAGS:
• Associate Prof Dr Roshaiza Taha
• Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff
• Food Inflation
• Food Prices
• Household Income Estimates And Incidence Of Poverty Report Malaysia
• National Agrofood Policy 2.0
• Prof Dr Mohamad Fazli Sabri