Climate change, agriculture and food security issues: Malaysian perspective

Climate change is a complex environmental problem that is adversely affecting the different sectors of the economy in both developed and developing world. Malaysia is experiencing rapid changes in climate factors over the past few decades. The mean surface temperature for Malaysia increased with the ranges from 0.6 degrees C to 1.2 degrees C during the period of 40 years (1969-2009). It was projected that the surface temperature would increase from 1.5 degrees C to 2.0 degrees C by 2050. Rainfall and river flows are projected to experience greater fluctuations. Changes in climate factors are likely to affect adversely the agriculture production and consequently food security of the country. This paper aims to focus on the potential threats and effects of climate change on agriculture and food security in Malaysia. The paper reviews currently available information on climate change, agriculture and food security issues in Malaysia. Available literatures demonstrate the potential threat of climate change to the production of grains and export earnings from industrial products. It was reported that changes in climate factors could decrease yields of rice, the main staple food in Malaysia, from 13% to 80%. On the other hand, production of industrial crops, particularly oil palm, rubber and cocoa would decline with a range of 10-30% due to negative impacts of climate variability. Moreover, population of the country is expected to increase in the next few decades which will cause increased domestic demand of food. The country would require to increase significantly the production of food commodities in order to meet increased domestic demand of food. However, it is unlikely that a significant increase in food production will be achieved in the short to medium term due to the limited resources in agriculture sector. This might cause the risk of food crises and consequently threaten food security in the country. Therefore, urgent action is very much needed to preserve agriculture sector and sustain production of food in the face of inevitable climate change.