Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN MALAYSIATunku Mahmud Bin Tunku Yahya *1. INTRODUCTIONAgricultural or crop diversification is practiced in Malaysia. Traditionally, horizontaldiversification or the cultivation of an increasing number of crops as opposed to one or twomajor crops is the practice. Oil palm, rubber, cocoa and rice have been and continue to bethe major crops grown by the private and public sectors. However, other crops such ascoconut, tropical fruits, vegetables, flowers, annual crops etc., are being grown by thesmallholders and the private sector.Vertical diversification that refers to the upstream and downstream activities of aparticular crop or crops is also being practiced. It starts from primary production (farmproducts), goes through primary and secondary processing and finally the finished products.The vertical variant gives increasing emphasis to intra and inter-sector linkages therebydeveloping the relevant value chain in order to be competitive.2. CROP PRODUCTION AND ECONOMICS SCENARIOThe area under agriculture in Peninsular Malaysia increased from 33 percent in 1984to 37 percent in 1995 (Table 1). In Sarawak it increased from 26 percent in 1976 to 32percent in 1992 (Table 2), while in Sabah the area under agriculture increased from 7 percentin 1985 to 10 percent in 1991 (Table 3).The bulk of agriculture land in Malaysia is devoted to rubber, oil palm and rice(Table 4). Nevertheless, the acreage under rubber is on the decline since the early eighties.Oil palm has taken its place, showing an increasing trend from 1,482,400 hectares in 1985 to2,540,000 hectares in 1995 reflecting an average annual growth rate of 5.5 percent. Riceincreased from 655,000 hectares in 1985 to 670,000 hectares in 1995, with an average annualgrowth rate of 0.2 percent. Vegetables increased at an annual growth rate of 2.8 percentfrom 31,800 hectares in 1985 to 42,000 hectares in 1995. Fruits that include durians,pineapples, banana, papaya, starfruits etc., grew as fast as oil palm at 5.6 percent per annumfrom 150,100 hectares in 1985 to 260,000 hectares in 1995. Other crops showed decreasingtrends. Cocoa that reached a peak of 419,100 hectares in 1990, took a downturn in 1995 toabout 190,000 hectares. Coconut acreage reached the highest level of 334,100 hectares in1985 but started to decline to about 250,000 hectares in 1995. Pepper reached a peak of11,500 hectares in 1990 but declined to 10,000 hectares in 1995. Tobacco also declined to11,000 hectares in 1995 from 16,200 hectares in 1985.The contributions and performances of the selected crops from 1985 to 1995 arehighlighted below.* Senior Research Officer/Assistant Director, Economic and Technology Management Centre, MalaysiaAgricultural Research Development Institute (MARDI), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.64