Rice self-suffiency in Malaysia: policy and reality

Abstract

The decade of the seventies has experienced a succession of crop failures in Asia, Soviet Russia, and North America resulting in a constriction of world trade in food. Futurologists, the F.A.0. and the North South Dialogue area increasingly concerned about exhaustible resources and energy on which food production heavily depends. Multhus' diminishing returns assumption, may yet be proven right. They are questioning whether trade in food would follow the OPEC route which may result rising food prices. Rice, being the staple food for about half the world's population is the single most important foodstuff. Some 2 billion people in Asia depend on it for their calorie intake while it is the preferred grain in many parts of Africa, Middle East and Latin America. In spite of this importance, world production of milled rice is only about 240 million tons which is equivalent to about 20% of annual wheat and coarse grains production.