BY PROF DATUK M NASIR SHAMSUDIN
THE food sector in the country is facing major challenges that will persist for the next decades.
These include providing sufficient food to meet the growing population and rising per capita income as well as dietary changes, eradicating hunger and food insecurity.
The sector is also influenced by the megatrends that will shape the current and future characteristics of the sector. These megatrends include accelerating urbanisation, demographic shifts, geopolitics and shift in global economic power, and technological breakthrough that includes agricultural system technology and food distribution system.
Added to these megatrends, new dimensions in the price equation are the environmental impacts of modern agriculture and the role of crude oil, food safety, and bioenergy. These effects create further constraints on the food supply.
