Aging workforce a threat to agriculture sector, food security

Aging workforce is a growing threat to the agriculture sector and food security since nearly half of the country’s farmers are 60 and above, said deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

This in turn affected productivity and Malaysia’s ability to sustain domestic food production.

“To ensure the sector’s sustainability, we must attract more youths to agriculture.

“Without a skilled and competitive younger generation, our goal of reducing import dependence and ensuring national food security will be difficult to achieve,” he said at the launch of the 2024 Agriculture Census interim report today.

The report showed that 45.4% of individual agricultural operators are aged 60 and above, while only 22.2% are aged between 15 and 45. Another 32.3% are aged 46 to 59.

Better incentives, modern technology usage and improvised image of farming as a career is needed to infuse young blood into the sector, he said.

Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said Sabah recorded the highest number of young farmers, totalling 6,180, aged 15 to 30, followed by Perak (5,149) and Sarawak (3,583).

For farmers aged 60 and above, Sarawak topped the list with 63,452, followed by Kedah (61,886) and Sabah (57,007).

Also launched at the event was the TaniStats portal, which aims to improve access to agriculture-related data for farmers, policymakers and stakeholders. It includes platforms such as TaniFacts, myFoodStats, myAgrochain and the MyAgroPrice dashboard.

The dashboard provides monthly price data for 60 selected agricultural products at farm, wholesale and retail levels, according to states, from 2020 to 2024.