Food Security + Internet Government

This is a video posted by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) on YouTube about how much food is currently being imported into Japan to satisfy the changing need in Japanese diet. It also encourages Japanese to change their diet for better health and ensuring future food security of Japan.

There are 2 issues here. Firstly, this is a good example of how Internet media can be used to help spread government intention to a emerging group of netizens in the country. Internet IS a friend to the government because YouTube is free and it is accessible to a wider audience than public seminars, pamphlets or TV.

Secondly, the issue being discussed here is VERY TRUE. The same would apply to any country, not just Japan. I don't know exactly how much food are we importing into Malaysia but obviously we imports a lot from China, Thailand, Australia and others.
"According to Dr Amin, who is also UPM's senior lecturer in agro-business and information technology, Malaysia's food import bill had reached RM23 billion in 2007. (read more)"

What makes the matter even worst is that US started to use corn to make bio-fuel (Ethanol-85%). Corn has always been the animal feed for cow, goat and pigs. Malaysia imports shiploads of those corn from the US to feed our chickens and ducks. This is why we see a price hike for food.

Here's the video. Watch and think, what will happen 5-10 years down the road.

Sabah oil palm planters leaving fruits to rot

KOTA KINABALU: Thousands of Sabah rural families involved in oil palm cultivation are in dire straits as mills are refusing to buy their oil palm fruits because of palm oil’s plunging price. read more...

Sabah has started a oil palm rush a few years back with oil palm plantations covering acreage 1.3 million hectares as of now with a potential for expansion to up to 1.7 million ha. In that regard, Malaysia has been criticized for clearing up natural rain forest once covered the land. What makes the matter "worst" is that Malaysian Government established the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) at Lahad Datu in 2006 to help fuel the growth of oil palm plantations in Sabah.

Now with price of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) down to RM290/mT, oil palm planters are suffering a lost due to high labor and fertilizer cost.

Carotech secures RM200m biodiesel contract

KUALA LUMPUR: Carotech Bhd, one of the largest local producers of palm methyl ester, has inked a RM200mil contract with Trafigura Beheer BV, Amsterdam for the export of its refined and distilled palm biodiesel to the US and Europe.

Managing director David Ho expected the agreement to contribute significantly to the company’s earnings and further strengthen its position as the leading supplier of palm biodiesel in the world. read more...

This is great news to all Malaysian oil palm planters. With Crude Palm Oil (CPO) free falling from about RM4000/mT in March 2008 till RM1472/mT closed on 14th Nov, oil palm planters do need a lot of assurance from the press to keep working on their farm.