KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Malaysia is in the top-tier of the 2015 Global Food Security Index (GFSI), placing 34^th out of 109 countries, but was far behind Singapore and five other neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s latest annual findings, Malaysia was categorised as showing “good performance” in ensuring that its citizens have access to sufficient amounts of affordable, safe and quality food.

With annual gains that amounted to a cumulative 4.9 points over a four-year-period, Malaysia improved its overall score to 69 out of 100.

Singapore, an island state with fewer natural resources, took second place in the ladder with an overall score of 88.2.

The five other Asia-Pacific countries outscoring Malaysia on food security are Australia at the ninth spot with a score of 83.8, New Zealand at the 13^th spot (82.8), Japan at the 21^st rung (77.4) and South Korea at the 26^th place (74.8).

Malaysia remains a relatively strong performer, however, outranking 16 other countries from the Asia-Pacific region including economic superpower China (42^nd) and Asean neighbours Thailand (52^nd), Vietnam (65^th), the Philippines (72^nd), Indonesia (74^th), Myanmar (78^th) and Cambodia (96^th).

The EIU did not comment specifically on Malaysia’s performance, but noted that “strong economic fundamentals are driving Gross Domestic Product growth and food security gains” in the Asia Pacific region, with 73 per cent of countries from this area improving on their scores.

Among other things, the EIU said high saving and investment rates, rapid workforce growth, a  growing middle class were key drivers to progress in the Asia Pacific region.

While high-income countries continue to dominate the food security index’s top rankings, the EIU noted that their score gap with the fast-growing Asia Pacific region has narrowed.  

“Middle-income countries are undergoing transformational changes. Upper-middle-income countries have made huge strides in ensuring that food safety-net programmes are comprehensive,” the EIU’s GFSI project director Lucy Hurst was quoted in the research unit’s statement yesterday.

“Overall, countries will continue to benefit from the combination of economic growth and food prices that are at their lowest level since 2010. However, economic growth is necessary, but not sufficient to reduce hunger; policies, the right investments and partnerships are equally important,” she added.

Malaysia is seeking to escape its “middle-income trap” and achieve high-income nation status by 2020.

Compiled by the influential business publication The Economist’s research unit EIU and sponsored by DuPont, the annual index measures food security using 19 indicators that are spread out across three categories - affordability; availability; quality and safety.

Malaysia performed relatively well in the affordability category, scoring 68.1 and ranking 40^th due to food consumption accounting for just 20.7 per cent of the national household expenditure instead of the global average of 33.9 per cent.

The country’s score in this category was also bolstered by the fact that only 2.3 per cent of its 30.2 million-strong population live under the global poverty line, against the global average of 25.9 per cent.

Malaysia performed slightly better in the availability category, with a 69.2 score at the 29^th spot out of 109 countries.

The country’s best performance was in the quality and safety category with a 70.4 score and a 36^th rank, achieving the full indicator rating of 100 on the government’s commitment to improving nutritional standards and a near-perfect score of 99.1 for enabling an environment for food safety.