Food prices are rising, supply chains remain fragile and climate shocks are hitting harder. In this episode of ASEAN KITA, we explore the region’s battle for food security what’s being done, what’s failing and what’s next.
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00:00Terima kasih kerana menonton!
00:30Terima kasih kerana menonton!
01:00Terima kasih kerana menonton!
01:02Hai Amirul, terima kasih kerana menonton!
01:06Terima kasih kerana menonton!
01:09Okay Prof, let's start with a big picture view.
01:11How would you assess the current state of the food security
01:15across ASEAN state right now?
01:17Are we moving in the direct direction of resilience
01:21or are we actually becoming more exposed to risk, Prof?
01:25Okay, thanks. Very good questions.
01:28Basically, we can all easily say
01:31we are very exposed to these food security across ASEAN.
01:35but ASEAN itself has basically been as a region, as an economic block.
01:43Looking at this issue, I think quite some time.
01:46And ASEAN with economic block over 660 million people
01:51and is projected to grow to I think about 723 million by 2030
01:59must ensure that we have enough food system
02:02so that we have sufficient and nutritious food for all the people.
02:06So, the problem is that as ASEAN is growing rapidly
02:09and we can see that a lot of countries in ASEAN
02:12from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia
02:16the leading as well as Singapore
02:18there is a lot of rapid population growth.
02:21And then, at the same time we are also facing increasing disposable income
02:26which is good but eventually it will lead to higher demand.
02:30then, place for urbanization.
02:34And of course, changing dietary patterns as the lifestyle change.
02:39So, all this basically transformed the food consumption and escape.
02:44And as we are more exposed to the global supply change,
02:50threat restrictions, movement restrictions,
02:53emergence of protectionism with recently Trump trade,
02:57trade blocs and a lot of countries looking at self-evidentity.
03:01I mean, Amirul, just I give you some example during the pandemic years
03:08when there was a shortage of wheat and corn
03:12due to the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine.
03:16And that's created a shortage of wheat.
03:20In fact, during that time, India,
03:22the second largest exporters of wheat refused to export.
03:28Yeah, because by itself for its domestic use.
03:32And then, it banned basically wheat export in May 2022
03:37because as part of the measure to control the rising domestic price in India.
03:42So, this basically just an example, yeah, of the fragility of the ASEAN food system
03:49as admitting that this is the challenges and vulnerabilities.
03:53And ASEAN itself, Southeast Asia is basically recognized, yeah,
03:59as one of the world most susceptible in terms of climate change.
04:05We know this area, our area is a region highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
04:12increased temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, yeah,
04:17which basically disturbed a lot of agriculture patterns, extreme weather, drought, floods,
04:23you name it, we have it.
04:25So, these climate-related challenges directly affect ASEAN agriculture productivity,
04:31leading to year losses, crop failures, and livestock death.
04:35So, it is very important issues to be discussed, Mirol.
04:40And then, yeah, that's how we start off our session with.
04:45Right, Liso Prof, you mentioned that it is an important issue to be discussed
04:49with the vulnerability of ASEAN in terms of food security.
04:53So, do you think that food security is being given the urgency
04:56that is needed and political weight it truly deserved by ASEAN leaders?
05:01or is it still being treated as a background issue in this, Prof?
05:05I think ASEAN itself recognize this is a critical problem.
05:10If you look at all the efforts, it has been shown in the media actually,
05:14but one of the recent ones would be in September 2023 in Jakarta,
05:20whereby all the ASEAN leaders has a declaration on strengthening the food security,
05:26nutrition in response to the crisis.
05:28So, if you go back further, in 1968, historically,
05:32ASEAN cooperation in the agriculture and food sector,
05:35later back as early as that, yeah,
05:38looking at the cooperation in food production and supply.
05:41And then, somewhere in 2015, up to the plan to 2020,
05:46there was something they call it ASEAN integrated food security.
05:51that we also call it AIFS, a framework of study planned action on food security.
05:57And then, furthermore, there is also something we call ASEAN Food Security Reserve Board, or AFSRB.
06:06It was established to review, monitor, and evaluate the situation of food security,
06:12across the globe, across ASEAN as a region, and at country levels.
06:17In order to support all this, all the ASEAN member states basically agreed to develop ASEAN Food Security Information System.
06:24So, it's very there, it's there, the system is there.
06:27Then, even we have ASEAN plus 3, which means including of China, Japan, and Korea.
06:34It's basically, it's basically for rice reserve, or we call it APTER.
06:39just to strengthen the food security cooperation in the region through systematic data collection,
06:46analysis, yeah, in terms of dissemination of food security, all these are there.
06:52So, we cannot say that the government of each of the respective ASEAN countries did not take care about this.
07:00And they are, and because it's just not being highlighted in the media.
07:03and basically, here in the 2015 or so, there was a strategic band of ASEAN,
07:10yeah, cooperation of food, agriculture, even for even forestry,
07:15which actually actually end today, sorry, this year, 2025.
07:19It was started in 2016, up to 2025, which basically defines the vision,
07:25the goals for food, agriculture, and forestry sector.
07:29So, all in all, I think it has been very much, I recall that, aligned, yeah,
07:37to all the, between all the ASEAN countries in terms of food security.
07:42They have something in mind as old as 1968, yeah, so that is more than 50 years, yeah,
07:49and until now, and it's still been looked at, yeah, and the latest one would be in the 2023,
07:54As I mentioned in Jakarta, all the leaders have made a declaration, especially after the pandemic years.
08:01The pandemic years was the one that highlighted the vulnerability of all the countries in ASEAN.
08:07Prof, you mentioned just now that there are plans in place, for example, the AIFS, ASEAN Integrated Food Security,
08:16meaning there are some sort of understanding between the ASEAN states and ASEAN state leaders,
08:22but in the event of a sudden food supply disruption that is quite concerning right now with the tensions of US and China relations
08:31and geopolitical risk and all that, do you think this response or this plan is enough in order for us as a region
08:41to ensure the food disruption is at a minimal level, Prof?
08:45Good question. This is, well, at least we must have a plan, yeah, and we plan, and Allah is the best planner of all.
08:55You know, we put all the plans together, and the other thing is how about the execution of the plan.
09:01So, as we know, food security is the fundamental concern for everybody, all the countries, yeah.
09:07It's because without enough food, it will create a lot of social disability, destabilize the whole region,
09:16and we had this problem some time ago in Temun-Leste, we had that last time in Jakarta, yeah.
09:23Yeah, when the people's tummy is not full, then they will start, you know, having this problem writing and so on.
09:31So, whatever the plan, yeah, whatever it must be cognitive.
09:35And ASEAN doesn't look only in ASEAN, as I mentioned, it was also ASEAN plus 3, yeah.
09:40Of course, it's looking only at the staple food of ASEAN, which basically rice.
09:44The other one is corn or maize, yeah.
09:47Yeah, and then in even looking at this role, even ASEAN Food Security Reserve, yeah.
09:53In 1979, played the biggest role in terms of rice supply for ASEAN.
09:59That is our staple food in this part of the world, not wheat.
10:02So, in terms of food policies, they are there, yeah.
10:06But whatever it is, it has been challenged during the pandemic, yes.
10:11So, that's why in 2023, all the leaders look at this as something that critical, yeah.
10:16need to, luckily, it wasn't prolonged, yeah, for some time.
10:21And then the price came back, yeah, to what it was prior to banning.
10:26So, whatever it is, there is always a challenge, yeah, especially with the, as you said,
10:33geopolitical, yeah, geopolitical risk, yeah.
10:37and in terms of disruption to the global supply chain, which will have immediate effect on our food supply.
10:46And this must be looked at, and from time to time, as long as the plan is not static, must be dynamic,
10:53and it must be evaluated according to the dynamic changes of the market, of the global, whatever the issue is.
11:02Prof, some have proposed a collective ASEAN food emergency reserve.
11:08In your view, is that realistic?
11:11Or, and what would it take politically and also practically to make it something like that happen, Prof?
11:17We, we need to have that.
11:19We, we need to have that.
11:20We have to look at that.
11:21Malaysia being the, the chairman of ASEAN, need to take it as a step further,
11:25to look at a collective food emergency reserve.
11:28So, as we can see that different countries, we have 10 countries in ASEAN,
11:32we can see that, like, Singapore and Thailand are more advanced in this food supply.
11:36They have modern technology, but you look at countries like Myanmar, Laos, yeah?
11:41And then these countries, like Temul Leste, they are lacking in terms of, yeah?
11:46In terms of planning on the food security.
11:49So, we need to have, yeah?
11:51Of course, when we want to do this at the, at the regional level,
11:54there were issues like financial resources, there were issues like logistic and transport, yeah?
11:58how we're going to coordinate.
12:00I would suggest that we have the, the AFS, AFSRB, yeah?
12:05Maybe after this, we need a board which basically implement all this, yeah?
12:11Planning, yeah?
12:12To, at the, at the, at the regional level, yeah?
12:15You must, you must have all the members of the 10 countries,
12:17so that we have to see this in the big picture.
12:21As the growth of population, as I mentioned, growing from 660 million people
12:25to 723 million people, but 2023, this is something really serious to look at.
12:32And Malaysia basically have to bring this up to another level,
12:36just since we are talking about this since 1968, yeah?
12:40It's not something that is not feasible, yeah?
12:44It is totally, we already have the basis, we already have the platform.
12:48It's just that we have to take this challenge and, yeah?
12:51step, step up, yeah?
12:54From what it is now.
12:56Well, we're just getting started and next, we will start talking about,
13:00we will zoom in more about the Malaysia's position in terms of food security,
13:04but stay with us and more on us and kita right after this.
13:21Welcome back to ASEAN Kita and we're speaking with Professor Aimi Zulhasmi
13:42about ASEAN's battle for food security and the urgent question of whether this region
13:47can withstand future shocks to our food systems.
13:52And now, we want to talk about Malaysia's position in terms of food security, Prof.
13:57Zooming into Malaysia, how would you compare our level of food self-sufficiency
14:02and resilience compared to our ASEAN neighbours?
14:06Are we leading or are we lagging or somewhere in the middle, Prof?
14:10I would say we are somewhere in the middle, but we are lagging behind the leading,
14:15which is Singapore, yeah?
14:17By all means, Singapore not only leading in region,
14:20but also the leading globally as well in terms of food security.
14:25because they understand their position being a small country,
14:28which is not self-sufficient, they have to rely on import foods.
14:31I think they have basically built up a good food security system for Singapore,
14:36everything from rice, other staple food as well.
14:40So, we have basically a lot to learn from how Singapore do it.
14:44And for us, it was made known that we may have a supply level not more like 3 to maximum 6 months,
14:51then if anything prolonged in terms of supply, then we have a problem.
14:56So, in terms of self-sufficiency, food security,
14:59it is a security issue in Malaysia.
15:02And these are all happening as we can see,
15:07and it's a bigger issue recognized by the government.
15:09But unfortunately, not much been done on this,
15:12especially we are relying a lot of the imported foods, items,
15:17coming into Malaysia.
15:19but we can't say that we're not doing, yeah?
15:22We can't say that this is not something that we can live with.
15:27We look at Singapore, even though it's a small country,
15:30but it has enough for the citizen.
15:34But we have to look at how we can do this, yeah?
15:37We can still import foods.
15:39How are we going with the storage?
15:40How about the rice?
15:41How about not only rice, how about other food?
15:43So, Malaysia, just like other countries in Asia and globally,
15:49we have been challenged.
15:51In terms of land usage for agriculture,
15:55I would say based on the data,
15:58one-fifth of the agricultural land available is only planted for food crops.
16:05and the rest like five over, yeah?
16:08Four over fifth is basically commercial plot like palm oil.
16:12So, that is the reason.
16:13And that also includes that one-fifth also include like,
16:16you go to Cameron Highland, vegetable and all those things.
16:18But four-fifth because we are being the second largest producer of palm oil.
16:22So, the focus is more on the commercial plantation instead of food crops.
16:29So, that is what makes it more than before important, yeah?
16:37For this and then as well as the face of industrialization,
16:41growing numbers of population which basically need more houses as well.
16:46So, it is a big challenge, yeah?
16:49I mean, role for Malaysia in terms of self-sufficiency,
16:53food security, yeah?
16:55In terms of supply overall.
16:56Which is not an odd problem.
17:00Which is a common problem in a lot of developing countries.
17:04You mentioned that we are somewhere in the middle
17:06and quite, you know, far away from Singapore
17:09which is far more advanced in terms of food security.
17:11Do you think the government has that political will?
17:14because I remember Minister Datuk, Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli saying that,
17:19you know, in terms of food security, it is not really a sexy topic
17:23for any government to do some sort of initiative towards it.
17:27To fix the problem.
17:28To make sure that the country is self-sufficient in terms of food security
17:31and also agriculture.
17:33Do you think the government, do you see now?
17:35Do you evaluate them?
17:36Have that kind of political will?
17:38and actually we are moving towards in terms of becoming more self-sufficiency
17:43in terms of our food security, Prof?
17:45I think the current government is facing a restructuring of the economy, actually.
17:51Everything, we can talk about the subsidy besasa, targeted subsidy, yeah?
17:56From the fuel, yeah?
17:57As well as the other consumer products, yeah?
18:01So, this is one of the issues they want to overcome with first.
18:05Okay, then maybe next one will be the food security.
18:08Hopefully, because the subsidy given to the, yeah?
18:13Given a lot, I think even exceeded the amount of the development
18:18under the budget, annual budget that we give every year.
18:22So, we must try to reduce this, this, yeah?
18:26Full sale, I would call it, instead of targeted subsidy.
18:29Right?
18:30Then we can look at the food security.
18:32But food security is a critical issue.
18:34The more that we wait, yeah?
18:35The more, uh, is, yeah?
18:38We put ourselves at risk.
18:39And the way the geopolitical, uh, yeah?
18:42Issues that are ongoing, the enemy factors.
18:44Uh, it is highly, uh, I think we have to start somewhere, yeah?
18:49We, we can't wait until that we implement the round 95
18:52only then, you know, to start the, the, uh, the, uh, yeah?
18:56This, uh, issue on food security.
18:59And, um, and as I said earlier that, uh, we imported now,
19:04I think close to 70, not mistaken, around 76 billion ringgit
19:08of food annually as of 2020, 2023.
19:12So, that has grown a lot, uh, from, I think, in 2018,
19:17was only about around 46 billion.
19:20Okay?
19:21Maybe the amount of food has increased, but actually,
19:23what we are having is basically the inflated, yeah?
19:26Important inflation that coming into Malaysia,
19:29causing the price of goods to, to, uh, yeah?
19:32To increase.
19:33This is something that we need to look at as well.
19:35And if we be able to prepare for our, our food security issues,
19:41we are, yeah, we have to look at also the storage.
19:43we have to look at the pricing, uh, yeah?
19:46Of the goods that we imported.
19:48So, total reliance on, on, uh, yeah, of course, uh, we imported, uh,
19:53beef from India, yeah?
19:55We import, like, agriculture products from Indonesia.
19:58It's cheaper.
19:59But at the same time, we have to go really big on agriculture.
20:02How are we going to go on the modern agriculture?
20:04And, uh, it's not something impossible.
20:06we can look at countries, like, we can learn from, uh, Thailand.
20:10Thailand is very advanced in terms of agriculture.
20:12The government emphasize a lot of agriculture technology on Thailand.
20:16Besides that one, uh, the most successful country in the world in agriculture,
20:20a small, a small country, uh, used to be the same size population as Malaysia,
20:25but now slightly smaller than Malaysia, is Netherlands.
20:29The Netherlands is one of the biggest provinces of agriculture crops for the world.
20:34and then how they manage to do it.
20:37So, we must learn from, from, from these two countries,
20:40how they go about, and in terms of maybe they see all different weather,
20:44you know, maybe because of four seasons and all those things.
20:47But, under the modern agriculture, that's no longer an issue.
20:51And we can look at how Thailand, yeah?
20:53And we also must also look at the main issue here in Malaysia in terms of food supply,
20:58became more expensive.
20:59How we're going to control the storage is the cartels, yeah?
21:03Yeah?
21:04The supply chain, yeah?
21:05The, the, the middlemen who are controlling the price and so on.
21:08The importers, and even though the current government has, uh,
21:12devoid the use of the APs and all those things,
21:15but still, the same people are still controlling the, uh, the, whatever you say.
21:20Yeah?
21:21Any, any food that is imported, yeah?
21:22Even though we have chicken and eggs, yeah, locally produced,
21:26but the maize actually imported, yeah, from overseas.
21:30Why can't we use our own agriculture?
21:33Sometimes they were talking about, uh, the waste from the, uh, oil pump.
21:39Yeah?
21:40Yeah, oil pump, uh, yeah.
21:41All those things.
21:42We have developed that, but it never happened.
21:44Why are we still importing, uh, maize from, from, from Ukraine and other countries?
21:50Why?
21:51Because all these, uh, basically controlled by certain cartels.
21:55So these are the things that we, we must look at.
21:57And the government must basically intervene, uh, looking at the, uh, the,
22:01at the supply chain.
22:02How are we going to do it?
22:03Because it's not only about storage.
22:05It's all about logistics.
22:06It's all about, not only about supply, there is resources.
22:09How we control all this.
22:11So in terms of coordination, there's a lot of effort needed.
22:15Yeah?
22:16There's a lot of effort on the, uh, on the, on the government side.
22:19And they must work in hand in hand with the, uh, with the, uh, with the businesses.
22:24Yeah?
22:25Especially the, uh, the small medium industries.
22:27We need to grow our SMEs.
22:28Our SMEs, most of our SMEs in Malaysia, the micro SMEs, they're all involved in food production.
22:35Yeah?
22:36Food related industry, either restaurants, yeah, food businesses and whatnot.
22:40Yeah?
22:41So this is something that we need to really seriously look at.
22:45Yeah?
22:46And something we need to learn fast from our neighbour or, yeah, from, from Netherlands.
22:51Prof.
22:52Uh, we are seeing the return of trade protectionism and, and the rising of geopolitical uncertainty.
22:59Given this landscape, how risky it is for the region to still be so dependent on food imports
23:06from outside the region, Prof.
23:08Prof.
23:09Uh, as, as I mentioned, uh, earlier, yeah, um, I meant that, that we need to really look
23:15at, yeah, Malaysia, uh, alone is not enough.
23:18Yeah?
23:19We need to move as, as a straight block.
23:21And ASEAN is not only a political block.
23:23It need to be a very strong economic block.
23:25Yeah?
23:26It need to be like EU.
23:27Yeah?
23:28It need to be like, like other, uh, successful trade blocks to, to negotiate with other trade
23:33blocks.
23:34we have like protectionism coming in.
23:36Why can't ASEAN also do the same on negotiation basis?
23:39Why can't ASEAN also, yeah, trade with other, with EU and so on?
23:43We have issues like, for example, um, like, uh, our, our palm oil.
23:48Yeah?
23:49Our palm oil exported with EU, exported to EU and then we have all this ban, all those things.
23:54So this, if we move together as ASEAN instead of just Malaysia and Indonesia currently, then
23:59we have a bigger voice.
24:01So in terms of food security wise, yeah?
24:04So this is something that we need to look at.
24:07We need to work as a team.
24:08Yeah?
24:09Because, uh, collectively we are stronger.
24:11Yeah?
24:12Collectively we can, uh, influence many, uh, many, uh, I think issues globally.
24:17And then we need to look at, um, this relationship because people also looking at the ASEAN itself
24:24being about 700 million people strong and with a rising middle income, uh, middle class income.
24:30And then with all the purchasing power and with all the rich natural resources in, in our, in our part of the world.
24:37And ASEAN stands to do that.
24:40So Malaysia being the, uh, the chairman of ASEAN need to look at this more, uh, globally.
24:49Yeah?
24:50Looking at, uh, leading, leading the chair.
24:53Yeah?
24:54Leading the block to, to a higher level.
24:56We could not be, uh, what we were, I think ASEAN has been established for decades.
25:01And then, uh, looking at this critical issues, geopolitical race, with the supply, the destruction on global supply chain.
25:09With, uh, reducing land for, uh, yeah, reducing land for agriculture, urbanization.
25:17Yeah?
25:18Growing population.
25:19A really comprehensive plan, Aiman.
25:22We, we, we need that to do that.
25:24And it's not only plan, it must be properly executed.
25:27It must be a steering committee.
25:29Yeah?
25:30At ASEAN labor to drive this implement.
25:32Yeah?
25:33To drive all these, uh, implementations.
25:35Mmhm.
25:36Prof, uh, with the final minutes that we have, um, I want to talk about, uh, the climate change impact also as well, as well, for the region.
25:42We're already seeing the effects of, uh, climate volatility, extreme weather, floods, droughts, all over Southeast Asia.
25:49Yeah.
25:50Uh, how is this affecting agricultural productivity, uh, in, in real terms?
25:54And are we adapting fast enough?
25:56We are definitely not.
25:58Definitely not.
25:59Uh, there are certain countries which quite, uh, I think I'm impressed with, like Thailand.
26:05They have a lot of, uh, young people going into agriculture because Thailand really emphasis a lot on agriculture industry.
26:11They are really, for example, they have apps which tracks rain, which tracks drought.
26:17So they can basically, the, the, the farmers can basically install these apps and can understand when the rain gonna be.
26:23So all this modern technique, technology must be adapted.
26:27Yeah?
26:28So not only Thailand and this kind of technology, this app must be, uh, transferred to the whole ASEAN region.
26:34So this technology we must learn together.
26:36So this is what we need to do.
26:38And then, uh, using technology, a lot of R&D in Malaysia, yeah, and especially Singapore, they're very advanced in the, in the vertical farming.
26:47How they're utilizing, uh, yeah, how they utilize very limited space and then produce, uh, yeah, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of crops, a lot of produce.
26:56So this is something that, that we need to, to, to look at.
27:00Of course, you're at a country that, uh, in terms of infrastructure, they're lacking like Myanmar, Laos, even Cambodia, yeah.
27:08But something that we can look at.
27:10And this is where, how we work together with ASEAN Plus 3.
27:14So we hope that the ASEAN Plus 3, the other three countries, China, Korea, yeah.
27:18And, uh, will come together and Japan, yeah, invest in, in our part of the world.
27:23because we have a very fertile land.
27:25We have a good weather.
27:26Even though we have this, as you would call that, uh, yeah, this problem with, uh, our weather.
27:32But still, in terms of, uh, fertilization, in terms of land, in terms of resources we are there.
27:37So, we need more, uh, investment, not only in terms of technology industrial, not only about manufacturing.
27:44We also need investment in terms of agriculture.
27:47Exactly.
27:48We need to produce more goods.
27:50China is the biggest producer of wheat.
27:53India is the second largest producer of wheat.
27:56So, how, how can we do that, yeah?
27:59And then we know that countries like, like, uh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, they, they are good producers of rice.
28:06Yeah, which is something to look at.
28:08And then, we need, we don't need to, uh, basically, uh, uh, follow other plans.
28:14We need to have our own unique, yeah, uh, agriculture plan for, for our own regions.
28:19Uh, yeah.
28:20And the background of changing, as you said, climate change, yeah, quite rapidly.
28:25Yeah.
28:26We cannot expect, yeah.
28:27So, we must use technology on that.
28:29And, and, yeah, that, that is also, uh, the issue, as you mentioned, also, geopolitics, yeah.
28:35which we must be able to, to, to, to balance.
28:38And, of course, the current, uh, China and, and the United States, yeah.
28:44Yeah.
28:45Uh, yeah.
28:46Uh, debates, yeah, whether we'll go on or not.
28:48Okay.
28:49Thank you very much.
28:51Uh, that brings us to the end of the episode of ASEAN Kita today.
28:54Uh, what clear is this?
28:55Food security isn't just about farming or trade.
28:58It's about strategy and survival.
29:00And ASEAN, as ASEAN move forward, the choices we make today will decide whether our region
29:05can fit itself tomorrow.
29:07A big thank you to Professor Aimee Zulhazmi for the insights and to you for watching.
29:11Until next time, I'm Amr Aiman.
29:13Have a good day.
29:28Bye.
29:29Bye.