Agriculture in the Malaysian Region

Chapter 2. A Statistical Overview (1970s) with Commentary

6 Agriculture in the Malaysian Region CHAPTER 2 a Statistical Overview (1970s) with commentary agriculture in the economy In the 1970s, agriculture in Malaysia contributed less to the Gross Domestic Product and to direct employment than in most other countries of Southeast Asia, as it does in the 2010s. This reflected the relatively high average annual income, about MR1,927 per person in 19751 and a comparatively high level of economic development. In 1979 agriculture’s direct contribution was 24 per cent of the GDP though this proportion had been falling steadily over the previous two decades. In Singapore, the contribution to the GDP of the entire primary sector of the economy was only 1.3 per cent in 1980 and this has also been steadily falling. The contribution of agriculture was by no means negligible, since in 1975, total agricultural production (including inland fisheries) was worth S$371 million, roughly S$177 per head of population which compares with S$7,224 million for manufacturing, i.e. S$3,440 per head (at current prices). As is the case in most countries where there is still a substantial peasant component in the economy, the direct contribution of agriculture to employment was and is much larger than its contribution to the GDP. The figures for 1979 (Table 2.1) show that less than half of those employed in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei worked in the primary sector. But even in Sarawak, where two-thirds worked in this sector, there had been a striking reduction from four-fifths ten years earlier. 1 This compares with MR789 in 1960 (at constant prices of 1965). One Malaysian ringgit and one Singapore dollar was worth approximately US$0.40 in 1980. 6 A Statistical Overview (1970s) with Commentary 7 A comparison of the data for the contribution of the primary sector to the GDP with the employment data suggests that labour productivity must be low relative to other sectors. Thus in Malaysia as a whole (1977), the agriculture sector employed about 50 per cent of all workers, yet contributed only some 23 per cent to the GDP. This discrepancy is largely to be explained by the existence of a substantial group, mainly Malays in the Peninsula and other indigenous peoples in Sabah and Sarawak, who were at or little above subsistence level, and mainly grew rice. Unlike most other Southeast Asian countries, the growing of cereals is relatively restricted here, reflecting the limited area of suitable land and the fact that for a family farm the return from rice has been anywhere from about one half to one-tenth of that from tree-crops. The annual production (1973) represented only 187 grain equivalents per head of population per year compared with a Southeast Asian average of 249 g.e./ persons per year. This was only about half of that of Southeast Asia as a whole, in part reflecting the problems of animal husbandry in an equatorial zone and also the fact that the number of pigs is strikingly low by reason of Islamic sanctions. However, by Southeast Asian standards, the level of mechanization in agriculture was high though still far below that of mid-latitude agriculture. A rough measure is the ratio of people to tractors which, at 1,200 to one was four times above the Southeast Asian average though still far below that of a mid-latitude country, such as New Zealand, where the ratio of agricultural tractors to people was about 1 to 40. These data suggest that, on the whole, Malaysian agriculture was labour intensive by Western standards, was little mechanized and was one in which livestock plays a limited role. table 2.1 Estimates of Population and Employment in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, 1979 Population Total work-force Primary work-force (1,000 persons) (1,000 persons) (1,000 persons) (%) Malaysia 13,297 4,512 2,192 48.6 Singapore 2,370 942 22 2.4 Brunei 185 52 61 11.6 Total 15,872 5,506 2,220 40.4 (Av.) Note: 1 Total primary sector. Source: Mainly from F.A.O. Production Yearbook 1979. 8 Agriculture in the Malaysian Region agriculture and trade Analysis of the role of agriculture in the trading economy of the region is somewhat complicated by the fact that Singapore, as the major entrepot, appears as a major exporter of agricultural commodities, though itself producing little for export, in the...