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The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we missed it, but that it is too low and we reached it. ~ Michelangelo. And to remain idle and content.We noted this same contentment from Sabah’s Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong recently where he down played issues with food supplies, particularly rice. Yes, Padiberas Nasional Berhad (Bernas) had assured Sabah it has a four months stockpile. So what’s beyond this four-month horizon? The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the business with the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research forecasting 2.4 million job losses this year. And topping that with widespread “hoarding” by consumers and enhanced stockpiling by countries to ride out this pandemic, it has driven up grain prices and pushed up the food security agenda. It also created market pandemonium for the most basic of essential items, food, among many including Sabahans.   Sabah is highly reliant on food imports, especially rice, where imports in 2017 made up 74pc of its total supply, whilst vegetable imports made up 47pc, according to data from The Sabah Agricultural Blueprint 2018. The pandemic has, unfortunately, thrown a spanner into the import economy with several Asean nations mulling a ban on rice export. On March 25, the world’s third-largest rice exporter, Vietnam, did just that.

That set tongues wagging among Sabahans, asking whether food security could morph into a major crisis in the months ahead. Although blessed with abundant fertile arable land, much remains unused. In 2017, out of 322,600 hectares suitable for paddy cultivation, only about 10pc or 31,274 hectares were farmed.

This is especially worrying for a state that in 2016 had a median household income of RM4,110, below the RM5,228 national average and a gini coefficient of 0.402 compared to the national 0.399. A higher gini coefficient indicates more inequality. It is therefore heart-breaking that while many Sabahans earn unliveable wages, they endure higher prices through added logistics costs and levies slapped on imported foodstuff.

There are many underlying economic reasons for Sabah’s over-reliance of rice imports. Firstly, the state’s poor infrastructure renders the logistics of processing, storage and distribution extremely inefficient, with long logistics delays contributing to loss of quality and attrition from weather and pests, before it reaches the market. Secondly, underdevelopment of mechanisation adds labour intensiveness into the agricultural output. The Sabah rice farmer produces an average yield of 3.39 tonnes/hectare, far below Vietnam’s 5.4 tonnes/hectare.

Thirdly, the open market economy allowed consumers to buy cheaper imported rice. As Albert Einstein once said, in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity. Sabah should seize this moment to restrategise making our homeland as a rice bowl for the country. We must reactivate the thousands of hectares of idle paddy land while diversifying to food crops outside of commodity such as oil palm. Sabah can be a food basket and producer of high end and exotic food and fruits with increase in yields, productivity and diversity by experimenting with introduction of short and longer term crops. We must embrace smart partnerships and sharing of technologies and innovations in new farming techniques to productively farm our vast area of coastal lands. The government must set the right agriculture policy tone to get produce from farm to the table, encompassing production, storage, logistics, quality control, marketing, branding and product development. Kill two birds with one stone and promote bustling farmers market in cities and towns, like the famed Dutch Flower Market in Amsterdam and Japan’s Tsukiji fish market, to serve as tourist destinations.

In agriculture, Sabah offers great promise and exciting potential but lacks in political to seize the moment. We stand reminded by this famous quote, Be not afraid of growing slowly, be only afraid of standing still.