Trends in Production of Vegetables and Fruits in Ensuring Food Security in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is experiencing high inflation of world food prices and the growing number of food imports due to its inability to cater for food production within the country to meet consumer demand. Efforts to overcome it have been pursued through the special policy of the agricultural sector since 1984 under The First National Agricultural Policy (NAP1), followed by The Second National Agricultural Policy (NAP2), The Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3), The National Food Security Policy and The National Agro-Food Policy. Vegetables and fruits are important food commodities that have been emphasized in the implementation of these policies. This study focuses on the production of vegetables and fruits during the policy period of 1984-2015. This qualitative study was carried out using a library study approach to collect data. Some library materials have been used as references including The Fifth to The Eleventh Malaysia Plan, NAP1-3 and The Economic Report. Content analysis methods have been used to analyze data. The findings show that the growth of vegetable and fruit production increases at a moderate and sometimes low rate and is still a dependence on imports as this sector is very risky with the weather causing its production to decline.