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

in processing, grinding and manufacturing. Currently, Malaysia has 10 grinding factorieswith a production capacity of 125,000 tonnes per year.The fruit industry is a smallholder-based industry involving 270,000 farmers. In1995, the area under fruits was 260,600 hectares, and in the year 2010 it is forecasted toincrease to 375,000 hectares (Table 9). For the 1985-95 period, the production of fresh fruitsincreased at the rate of 4.8 percent per annum from 638,100 tonnes to 1,019,900 tonnes. Thetotal value of fresh fruits exported increased from RM72.3 million (US$19 million) in 1985to RM170.2 million (US$45 million) in 1995 (Table 10). The major fruits exported weremelons, durians, papaya, banana and starfruit. The exports of processed fruits increasedfrom RM110 million (US$29 million) in 1985 to RM165 million (US$43 million) in 1995.However, Malaysia is still a net importer of fruits and fruit products.The production of vegetables has increased from 540,700 tonnes in 1985 to 718,100tonnes in 1995 at an average annual growth rate of about 2.9 percent (Table 11). In the year2010, it is forecasted that the planted acreage will increase to 86,000 hectares with aproduction of 1.6 million tonnes (Table 12). The export of vegetables has increased at therate of 15.2 percent per annum from RM39 million (US$10 million) in 1985 to RM160million (US$42 million) in 1995. The value of import has increased from RM276 million(US$73 million) in 1985 to RM683 million (US$180 million) in 1995 (Table 13).The productivity of coconut smallholdings is very low, the average annual yieldbeing 4,000 nuts per hectare compared to a potential of 20,000 nuts per hectare usingrecommended varieties. Nevertheless, Malaysia is a net exporter of coconut products. Totalexports in 1995 amounted to RM165.2 million (US$43 million) while imports totaled RM77million (US$20 million) as shown in Table 14. However, currently most coconut processingfirms are having problems getting the coconuts domestically and are therefore operatingbelow capacity leading to inefficiencies in the production of coconut-based products.Overall, the contribution of the agricultural sector to GDP, employment and exportearnings is on the decline (Table 15). In 1975, the contribution of agriculture to GDP was 28percent but in 1995 it has gone down to 13.6 percent. In 1975, the contribution of agricultureto employment was 37 percent but declined to 18 percent in 1995. The contribution ofagriculture to export earnings in 1975 was 50 percent and in 1995 it was only 13.1 percent.The forecasted land use in the year 2010 indicates that rubber, coconut and cocoaholdings, as well as planted areas of rice will be reduced by 505,000, 70,000, 60,000 and220,000 hectares, respectively (Table 16). In Sabah and Sarawak where there are substantialland areas, new land development will be undertaken.3. PATTERNS OF CROP DIVERSIFICATIONRice is mainly grown by smallholders with an average farm size of about 1.06hectares. Wetland rice constituted 85 percent of the total rice area in the country with theremaining 15 percent made up of upland rice. In Peninsular Malaysia, 76 percent of the areais provided with extensive irrigation and drainage facilities while only 15 percent of the areain Sabah and Sarawak are irrigated. About 72 percent of rice production comes from theeight granary areas that are able to produce two crops in a year.66