By Martin Yee
KUCHING: A local businessman and agriculture expert has come up with a simple solution that may bring the prices of food down and augment supply of such essentials as animal feed by planting a few crops.
These crops, which can provide a cheaper source of animal feed, can be grown by farmers while another crop, the field corn, can be planted overseas, and that is for the government to consider.
Yong Hua Ying said field corn had to be planted overseas as local conditions such as the excessive rainfall made it unsuitable.
“The other crop that can be planted locally and used for the same purpose is soy bean or kacang Edamame, a new crop from China introduced here two years ago.
“The other alternative is the planting of local corn and it can be used to feed animals or for human consumption. Moreover, local corn is easy to grow,” said Bintangor-born Yong.
“Places like Surabaya in Indonesia or Queensland in Australia, where there is a prolonged dry season, are conducive to the growth of the crop and these countries also have huge acreage suitable for mass production.
“Kacang Edamame has a high yield with one plant producing 300g to 500g, which is recommended to local farmers and they can process and package the produce in their own backyard.
“Edamame is a Japanese word and the bean is served in Japanese restaurants. I tested it first in a plot behind my office and the result was successful.
“It is highly recommended for the government to try it while for locals, they can plant field corn, which can be used to feed livestock as the supply chain from other countries is cut.
“At the moment, there is both physical and weather conditions that affect the supply of food production, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine,” said Yong, who studied agricultural science at Universiti Pertanian Malaysia.
“Another new problem (with overseas supply) is that China, a main source and supplier of food like rice or chicken feed, has curtailed the flow of export as most countries now are protecting their own survival and preserving their economy.”
He said another thing adding to the problem was that the yield of crops had dropped due to climate change, which is seriously affecting food production all around the world.
“A country like China has already stopped exporting rice and they sapu (grab) all the soya bean supply due to the acute shortage in world supply with the cost of feed going up from RM900 to RM2,000 per tonne.
“It is imperative that Sarawak turns to solutions to mitigate such problems as rising price of food and shortage in supply,” said Yong.
