KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Malaysia is ranked 41st among 113 countries based on the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) 2022 released by the Economist Impact, said Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.

He told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Feb 16) that Malaysia scored 69.9 over 100. The moderate score led Malaysia to rank eighth among Asia Pacific countries and second among Southeast Asian countries.

The GFSI is evaluated through four categories namely “affordability”, “availability”, “quality and safety”, and “sustainability and adaptation”, based on the dimensions of food security issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

“Overall, the government understands that there is room for improvement to improve the position in the GFSI, especially in weak categories such as ‘sustainability and adaptation’ where Malaysia scored 53.7,” the Kota Raja MP said.

He said the weightage for this category has shown an increase to 22.5% in 2022 from 17.5% in 2021.

“From the observation of 25 indicators and 62 sub-indicators of GFSI 2022, some indicators and sub-indicators got a very poor score.

"For example, the sub-indicator on chronic food aid under the ‘availability’ category was given a zero score even though the country is not a recipient of food aid from any outside party,” Mohamad Sabu said.

He said Malaysia scored 100 for the sub-indicator on chronic food aid in 2021.

“The ministry will engage with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which is the reference source for this sub-indicator,” the minister said.

Mohamad Sabu added that the sub-indicator on agriculture water risk-quality under the ‘sustainability and adaptation’ category scored poorly at 27.6.

“It showed that the use of untreated reservoir and river water for agricultural activities is also exposed to the risk of pollution, especially for farm areas that are far from residential areas and there are no centralised water facilities,” he said.

Under the GFSI, agricultural activities also include agricommodity farming and forestry.

The minister said measures taken by the ministry included establishing a Cabinet Committee on National Food Security Policy chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to discuss the direction and issues related to food security.

In addition, the government is developing the National Food Security Policy Action Plan 2021-2025 and developing a specialised platform related to national food security as an official resource for public reference and stakeholders, Mohamad Sabu said.

Malaysia had ranked 39th overall in GFSI 2021, 48th in 2020 and 28th in 2019.