Potentials and constraints for the development of fruit and vegetable in the urban and peri-urban areas in Malaysia

摘要

Fruit and vegetable production in Malaysia is largely operated on a small scale under traditional open field system. In recent years, production area under fruits and vegetables have shown a gradual increase due to the growing local demand and international market. Increase in demand for fresh fruits and vegetables in urban areas is mainly attributed to the growing affluence and increase health consciousness of the urban inhabitants. This is evidenced by the increase in per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables at 40kg and 45kg, respectively. However, with the onslaught of industrialisation, productive land that were formerly planted with fruits and vegetables have been utilised for infrastructure development, thus, pushing the farmers to marginal areas which are further from the urban areas. Hence, there has been a decreasing availability of suitable land for fruits and vegetables cultivation in the urban and peri-urban areas. The cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the urban or peri-urban areas is often constrained by contamination of the environment due to indiscriminate use of pesticides. This calls for an alternative production system that utilise more organic matter from agricultural by-products, growing under protected environment and the application of Integrated Pest Management for pest and disease control. The Green Book Policy introduced by the government in the seventies has encouraged the urban inhabitants to grow fruits and vegetables in their backyard. During the recent economic downturn, hydroponic kits are highly demanded for growing short-term vegetable crops. However, extension and advisory support from the relevant government agencies and non-profit organisations are not well coordinated to sustain this activity. Successful farmers operating on limited land in the urban and peri-urban areas often succumb to price discrimination by the middleman. In order to overcome this problem, the government has introduced several measures to encourage farmers to practice direct selling to the consumers. Additionally, infrastructure facilities, such as packing houses and grading centres have been installed in several major growing areas to provide logistic and technical support to farmers operating in the urban and peri-urban areas. In order to sustain the activity of cottage industry, credit facilities and technological backup are also provided. It is essential that viable long-term programme need to be established in order to sustain the farming activity in the urban and peri-urban areas.