Malaysia and the factors that influence its seed industry: Natural resources, policies, market and fundings

Aik, Chua Kim and German, Mingramm and Fakhrul Anwar, Zainol (2017) Malaysia and the factors that influence its seed industry: Natural resources, policies, market and fundings. Journal of Food Science and Engineering, 7 (1). pp. 74-85. ISSN 21595828

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Abstract

Malaysia, situated in Southeast Asia, is a relatively small country of 33 million hectares of land, and with a total cultivable area estimated in 14.2 million ha. However, in 2013, only 53% of it was cultivated. Remarkably enough, in 2012, 67% of the whole land used under agriculture was destined for oil palm plantations. Likewise, Malaysia has been recognized as one of the twelve mega-diversity countries of the world, thanks to its rich variety of species and diverse number of ecosystems. Furthermore, as Malaysia lies in the equatorial zone, the average temperature throughout the entire year is 26 °C; which is controlled by the northeast and southwest monsoons, and consequently, receiving around 2,000 mm to 2,500 mm of rainfall annually. In addition, Malaysia has an annual average of 990 billion m3 of water resources inside the entire territory. Moreover, as Malaysia realized the importance of shifting into a knowledge-based economy, it’s now really focused on the development of human and intellectual capital in order to produce adequate supply. In that way, under the Malaysia Education Blueprint from 2013 to 2015, a sum of RM 41.3 billion is expected to be allocated in 2016, to improve the quality of education. Conjointly, the agriculture in Malaysia is a fundamental piece in the country’s economy, contributing to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as in 2013 this sector employed more than 1.6 million people. On the other hand, in Malaysia two distinct Agricultural Policies have been established to give strategic direction to the agricultural sector: The Policy before Independence (1948-1957) and The Policy after the independence (1957-2020) (which is as well, formed by several policies). In conjunction, as Malaysia aspires to become a developed country, it nourishes its research culture; being the public sector an important contributor for the agricultural research funding. Notwithstanding, a substantial factor that has contributed in the development of the seed industry in Malaysia, is the fact of having the “Legislation” in place; with the establishment of the Protection of New Plant Varieties (PNPV) Act, which came into force in October of 2008. To finalize, Malaysia is now certainly facing limitations towards the development of the seed industry, which are: lack of new local varieties, lack of mandatory seed quality control system, unorganized information of the seed industry, inadequate number of trained personnel in the seed industry, lack of private sector involvement.

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