Shaping the Environmental Performance of Agriculture.

1. Shaping the Environmental Performance of Agriculture. By K.Subramaniam , MCIEH; PJK MSc(Envt), BSc(Hons)(Envt & Occ.Health), Dip RSH.

2. Introduction • The agriculture sector in Malaysia is an important and have a challenging role as the third engine of growth under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) with expected growth rate at an annual rate of 5.0% (MOA, 2007).

3. Introduction • The overall policy thrusts of the agriculture sector will focus towards: • greater commercialization and the creation of high-income farmers • promotion of greater private sector investment with various efforts geared towards increasing agricultural production • the provision of better incentives and services support (MOA, 2007).

4. Introduction • A development budget amounting to RM 11.435 billion was allocated during this period.  • Malaysia welcomed foreign investment in the: • agriculture sector, • technical assistance and capacity building • areas such as floriculture, livestock; and, • R&D in biotechnology.  • Malaysia has its endeavor to develop and modernize its agriculture sector as envisaged in the National Agriculture Policy, and the 9th Malaysia Plan • There is no doubt that an increased environmental impact will occur in Malaysia (MOA, 2007).

5. Agro-based Industries • The Industrial Master Plan outlined the development of agro-based industries comprising products processed from • fish, meat, fruits and vegetables. • Agro-based industries to be developed for growth is small compared to: • the manufacturing; and, • resource-based industries spearheaded by: • palm oil and palm oil products, • wood and wood-based products, and; • rubber and rubber-based products (MOA, 2006).

6. Agro-based Industries • There are 20,455 companies operating in manufacturing and downstream processing and about 18,271 or 89.3% are SMEs. • Only 3,270 companies (16%) are in the agro- and resource-based industries comprising • food and beverages, • rubber and rubber products and • palm oil and palm oil products (MOA, 2006).

7. 2. The General Functions of MOA: • To draw and plan the policy, strategy and Agricultural Development Programme. • To undertake the task of monitoring, evaluating and coordinating the implementation of project/ programme which is carried out within or beyond Integrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP). • To provide economic analysis services including collecting, analyzing and restoring information /agricultural data scientifically and furnish the outcome to the end users. • To formulate and implement references services and research programme and to introduce agricultural management information system. • To ensure the participation of Agricultural Ministry  in international programme. • Act as one stop agency for the private to get the advice and expertise in Agricultural sector (MOA, 2008).

8. Millennium Development Goals (MDG) • Malaysia is committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations Millennium Summit in the year 2000.  • The first of the eight goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.  • The FAO estimates that there 850 million food insecure people (14.2%) out of the world's population of nearly 6 billion. • The immediate target is to reduce that number by half by 2015 (MOA, 2007). 

9. Environmental Performance in Agriculture

10. There is a need to improve environmental performance in agriculture, through • enhancing the beneficial, and; • reducing the harmful environmental effects to ensure the sustainability of resource use. • Agriculture has a complex relationship with: • natural resources and the environment, and • attributing specific environmental effects to agriculture is difficult and not fully understood. • Agriculture is a major user of: • land and water resources yet needs to maintain • the quantity and quality of those resources • in order to remain viable.

11. Agriculture activities: • generates waste and pollution • yet it also conserves & recycles natural resources, • changes landscapes; and, • habitats for wildlife. • Many environmental effects are not confined to agriculture itself and also with off-farm effects. • The impacts are often concentrated locally and regionally, although some are of national and international significance.

12. The main driving forces in determining agriculture’s environmental performance: • Agricultural and environmental policies, • markets, • farm management practices, • structural change, • technological developments; and, • socio-cultural preferences • They interact and sometimes give conflicting signals. • It is no simple task, however, to identify and measure the respective influence of all these driving forces.

13. The heterogeneity of the natural resource base, farm structures and production systems used by farmers, and the assimilative capacity of ecosystemsdiffer from place to place. • These influences on various factors have environmental outcomes such as: • identification and measurement, • the predominance of dispersed, non-point source pollution in agriculture; and, • lengthy delays in the manifestation of environmental outcomes, e.g. pollution of groundwater.

14. The sufficiency and regularity of food supplies is largely assured in European countries (OECD). • Generally rising prosperity and awareness have led to • greater public demand for food produced in ways that also conserve; or, • enhance the natural or aesthetic environment.

15. The environmental performance of agriculture has evolved within the context of a long history of agricultural policies in EU countries (OECD) , most of which deliver support through commodity production-linked measures i.e. • market price support, • output payments, and • input subsidies, • This is largely aimed at supporting farm incomes.

16. Agricultural policy reforms and trade liberalisation have reduced the importance of production-linked policy measures, but remain dominant in EU countries (OECD). • Economy-wide environmental regulations increasingly impact on agriculture. • Markets function : • by government intervention • to match the demand and supply of agricultural commodities but, • with regard to many environmental goods and services, • they either function badly or are non-existent. • Frequently, the nature and quantification of the public’s demand for “environmental performance” from agriculture is not at all clear.

17. Agri-food sector in EU (OECD) countries has witnessed: • a steady trend in output growth, • largely through higher productivity, but • with mixed results on environmental performance. • In the next half-century agriculture, worldwide, will be required to: • double its output if it is to meet the expected increased global demand for food, and; • reduce hunger.

18. The challenge is whether agriculture can efficiently produce the food to meet this growing world demand over time without degrading natural resources: • productive soils, • unpolluted air, • clean and sufficient supplies of water, • conserved habitats, biodiversity; and, • landscapes – and do so in ways that are socially acceptable.

19. In EU (OECD) countries environmental concerns in agriculture have been directly addressed through different combinations of: • specific agri-environmental policy measures; • agricultural policy measures that include environmental conditions; • economy-wide environmental regulations and policies; • zoning regulations; • research and development, • education, and extension service provision; and, • facilitation of co-operative, voluntary and market-based approaches.

20. Policies have some impact on the environmental performance of agriculture, • the challenge has been to analyse the extent to which the policy measures and mixes of policies have facilitated or impeded that environmental performance, and • to assess the economic and social costs involved. • While much work has been undertaken both in individual countries and in the OECD, in many cases the results are preliminary. • Research is at a relatively early stage in understanding and measuring the complex relationship between • policies, • agricultural production and • environmental outcomes, • in order to evaluate policies and draw general and widely applicable conclusions.

21. Agriculture has a significant impact on the environment in EU (OECD) countries as a major user of natural resources accounting for around: • 40% of total land and • nearly 45% of water use and, • in many countries, dominates and shapes the landscape. • Contrary when compared to other economic activities: • agriculture has both harmful, • beneficial effects on the environment, and; • by changing the quality or quantity of soil, water, air, biodiversity and landscapes.

22. Conclusion

23. Conclusion • There are a plethora of reasons for re-looking into this traditional agro-food sector. • 1. The issue of food securityand the high food import bill incurred by our nation require a strategic need to diversify our economic activity base to ensure that the production in food crops in which we have a comparative advantage is actively promoted as a new source of wealth. • 2. Enhance competitiveness by opening up of our market through the implementation of AFTA and WTO will require our local producers to increase their productivity and competitiveness in order to compete in our domestic market and globally.

24. Conclusion • 3. The Agriculture Census 2005 shows that there are about 820,000 agriculture operators in Malaysia. • These agriculture operators contribute to 8% of the total workforce in our nation. • The bulk of the hardcore poor are located in this rural-based sector and we have the responsibility to help them achieve a better standard of living. • According to the Households’ Survey 2004, about 79% of the 36,500 households identified as hardcore poor were in the rural areas.

25. Conclusion • 4. It makes economic sense to diversify our sources of growth and to re-look into the untapped potential of the agriculture food sub-sector as the next engine of growth. • In fact, during the height of the recession in 1985 when our nation registered an overall negative growth of -1%, • the agriculture sector had the distinction of achieving a positive growth of 2.5% compared to the: • manufacturing sector which registered a decline of 3.8%, • mining recorded a decline of 1.4% and • construction sector contracted by 8.4%. • Hence the great importance in agriculture! (MOA, 2008).

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