Ageing farmers a worrying trend

The Star

6 days ago

SERDANG: Malaysians aged over 60 make up the largest segment of the country's farmers, while around 90% of all farmers have only completed education up to the SPM level, according to preliminary findings from the 2024 Agriculture Census.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who announced the interim results yesterday, said the census, the first in more than two decades, aims to provide a comprehensive picture of Malaysia's agricultural and food production landscape.
'With the 2024 Agriculture Census, we now have current, comprehensive baseline data for the agriculture sector.
'The last data collection of this scale was conducted over 20 years ago,' he said in his speech when announcing the census' interim report.
Fadillah, who chairs the Cabinet Committee on Food Security, said the data would serve as a foundation for crafting evidence-based policies and for strengthening the planning, implementation and monitoring of agricultural initiatives.
The census began in mid-2024 and was led by the Statistics Department under the Economy Ministry, in collaboration with 1,390 federal, state and district-­level agencies.
Elaborating on some of the main findings, Fadillah said the data revealed challenges and obstacles the agricultural sector faces in contributing to the country's food security.
For instance, out of the more than 1.03 million agricultural entrepreneurs, over 1.008 million are individuals, with only about 21,000 being group entities.
The age profile of these farmers also highlights a concerning trend: 45.6% are aged over 60, 32.3% are between 46 and 59 years old, and only 22.2% fall between the ages of 15 and 45.
'The predominance of senior citizens among individual farmers directly impacts farm productivity and the nation's capacity to increase domestic production and sustain the agriculture sector as a whole,' Fadillah said.
He also noted that 90.1%, or 909,114, of individual farmers only possess SPM-level education, which could pose challenges in modernising the sector.
'Although there is no direct link between education level and farming productivity, it plays an important role in enabling farmers to make accurate decisions, access the latest information and adopt modern farming practices.'
Another critical finding is that out of the 7.5 million hectares of agricultural land in Malaysia, about 5.8 million hectares are dedicated to oil palm and 700,000ha to rubber.
In contrast, food crops, of which rice is the largest, occupy just 500,000ha.
'Among the biggest challenges for individual farmers is limited land, especially plots smaller than five acres (2.02ha). Small plot sizes significantly impact productivity and crop yields.
'This affects not only farmers' incomes but also threatens long-term growth of the sector.'
The census also revealed the sector's heavy dependence on migrant labour, with 474,000 of the 1.4 million agricultural ­workers being foreigners, Fadillah added.
'This shows that the sector is still dependent on migrant workers in order to sustain itself.'
To ensure continuous data-­driven policy-making, Fadillah announced that the agricultural census will now be conducted every 10 years, with interim surveys beginning in 2026 to help monitor developments more effectively.
The public will be able to access statistics on the industry through a one-stop terminal called TaniStats, which will include macro-­level industry data (TaniFacts), value chain information of agriculture products (myAgrochain) and food-related data (myFoodStats).
The MyAgroPrice portal, on the other hand, will allow users to compare farm, wholesale and retail prices of various food ­products.