PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 — State governments have been urged to gazette paddy-growing areas to sustain rice cultivation and strengthen the country’s food security after the rice self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) declined last year.

SSR measures how much of a country’s domestic demand for a particular food or agricultural product it can meet with its own production.

According to the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM), the proposal was among the matters discussed at the second 2026 Agriculture and Food Security Ministers’ Meeting with state agriculture executive councillors, chaired by Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu yesterday.

KPKM said the proposal takes into account the decline in rice cultivation areas, which contributed to the fall in the rice SSR from 68 per cent in 2018 to 54.3 per cent in 2025, as well as a recommendation in the Auditor-General’s Report to gazette padi-growing areas to preserve the amount of land used for rice cultivation.

“Malaysia’s reliance on imported rice was estimated at 1.416 million metric tonnes, worth RM2.953 billion, in 2025,” KPKM said in a statement today.

Agriculture executive councillors from nine states, representatives from the state Economic Planning Units, the Finance Ministry and the Economy Ministry, as well as senior officers, department heads and agency chiefs under KPKM attended the meeting.

KPKM said the meeting also discussed measures to strengthen the country’s food-producing areas by zoning them in structure and local plans, in line with the National Land Use Master Plan.

Among the measures are the immediate gazetting of 24 state agro-food areas under the Permanent Food Production Parks, Permanent Ruminant Production Parks and Aquaculture Industry Zones, as well as implementing the Livestock Farm Regularisation Scheme and Food Area Protection Mechanism in Sabah and Sarawak.

“These measures support KPKM’s efforts to raise the SSR for strategic commodities while increasing domestic production and strengthening the country’s food resilience and security,” the statement said.

KPKM said the meeting also considered a proposal for state governments to participate in Malaysia Fest in Singapore, which has served as a platform to promote Malaysian agro-food products since 2006 through the Malaysia Fruits, Food Fiesta programme, giving local entrepreneurs greater opportunities to enter the Singapore market.

“Malaysia Fest has shown positive growth, with attendance rising from 75,000 in 2017 to 179,400 in 2025, while sales increased from RM6.59 million to RM15.8 million,” it said.

According to the ministry, the meeting also reviewed the status of the National Agro-Food Empowerment Programme under the 13th Malaysia Plan, with 347 projects worth RM349.15 million approved out of 782 applications totalling RM2.09 billion received this year.

Also discussed were the findings of the 2024 Outcome Evaluation Study of the Land Optimisation Programme with state governments, involving 97 projects, 19,447 participants, about 40,000 hectares and RM149.59 million in funding, to assess the programme’s effectiveness and benefits to target groups and the agro-food sector.

On industry regulation, the meeting acknowledged the drafting of the Fertiliser Bill to establish a more structured, transparent and effective regulatory framework for the fertiliser industry, particularly on quality, distribution and price stability, as well as protecting farmers’ interests. — Bernama