chapter 6 - Malaysia Productivity Corporation ( MPC)

PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE OF THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR
Expanding Malaysia’s Participation in the
Regional Value Chain
Malaysia’s participation in the regional value chain
can be effected through acquisition of foreign
firms, undertaking contract farming activities
overseas and providing services in niche areas
such as molecular marker discovery and validation
for breeding. The EPPs are shown in Table 8.7.
As there is currently no established seed or livestock
research centre in this region, an opportunity
exists for Malaysia to be the first country to
establish a regional breeding centre for crops and
livestock to capitalise on the projected growth of
the Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese agricultural
sectors. The Centre for Marker Discovery and
Validation (CMDV) for seed and brood stock
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A bountiful harvest.
research is designed and built to support screening
of genetic materials to discover molecular markers
for desired traits; the agriculture sector will benefit
from better selection of planting materials before
field planting. The services of the CMDV can be
extended to the region, thus positioning Malaysia
as a centre to promote and capture the high valueadded
segment of the agricultural sector. The
CMDV embarked on 10 projects using molecular
marker application in 2011. In addition, the paddy
variety used in the Clearfield Production System
is validated at the CMDV before the seeds are
distributed to farmers.
Strategies and Outlook
Under the National Agro-food Policy 2011-2020,
launched in September 2011, the agri-food sub-