Lessons from Malaysian Palm Oil Farmers for the UNFSS

The United Nation’s Food Systems Summit took place earlier this month. The vision of the summit according to its introduction is that:

The need is urgent, and our ambition is high. The UN Food Systems Summit will launch bold new actions, solutions and strategies to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), each of which relies on healthier, more sustainable and more equitable food systems.

As a global body with an influence on what happens on this planet, it was surprising for us to note the many criticisms of the UNFSS.

Notable among them are the boycott of the summit by scientists who urged their fellow members to join them. Quoting from their online petition:

But from the start, this summit has been deeply compromised by a top-down exclusion of many food systems actors and an impoverished view of whose food system knowledge matters. This exclusive approach undercuts ongoing work by farmers, farm workers, and food workers worldwide to advance transitions to justice and sustainability.

Civil societies and Indigenous Peoples' organisations introduced “a global counter-mobilisation against the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit” arguing that:

…the Summit distracts from the real problems the planet faces at this critical juncture. Resulting from a partnership between the UN and the World Economic Forum (formed by the world's top 1000 corporations), the Summit is disproportionately influenced by corporate actors, and lacks transparency and accountability mechanisms. It diverts energy, critical mass and financial resources away from the real solutions needed to tackle the multiple hunger, climate and health crises.

In a separate report, the UN’s World Food Programme stated gravely that its

Hunger Map aggregates 957 million people across 93 countries who do not have enough to eat. The Global Humanitarian Outlook projects 239 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian action and protection this year.

The most dire situation according to the WFP is in Madagascar where severe hunger caused by climate change is threatening the lives of over a million people. 

According to USAID

Madagascar is one of the world’s highest priority countries for biodiversity conservation due to its exceptional species richness, high number of unique plant and animal species; and the magnitude of threats facing these ecologically, culturally, and economically valuable resources. There are more unique species of plants and animals living in Madagascar than on the entire African continent and more than eighty percent of its species can be found nowhere else on Earth.

The WFP report on Madagascar added grimly that “90 percent of Madagascar’s original rainforests have been lost to logging, charcoal-making and slash-and-burn agriculture.” With rice as its main crop and an agricultural landscape dominated by small farmers, there are lessons from Malaysian small farmers that could improve the socio-economics in Madagascar.

There are similarities to suggest that it would work.

Rice at one time, was the main crop cultivated by Malaysian farmers for self-consumption and a cash crop. It fell out of favour when imports from other Southeast Asian countries drove market prices down. The import values of rice have increased steadily since Malaysia achieved nationhood. As the country developed, farming for a livelihood has fallen out of favour among the younger generation but for those who continue to operate small farms, oil palm has become a favoured crop. Some 500,000 small farmers are registered with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board which oversees all palm oil production in Malaysia.

How is this Relevant to Poorer Nations like Madagascar?

Image: Smallholder farm in Malaysia intercropped with pineapples.

The key is in mixed crops farming which is popular with small farmers in Malaysia. Using palm oil as a foundation crop, many small farms today incorporate other crops including annual crops like pineapples and perennial fruit crops including local favorites like rambutans and bamboo shoots. Also commonly seen in the small farms of Malaysia are staple food crops including tapioca and bananas. 

This mixed crop farm provides a steady source of food for the farmer’s family and a consistent source of income from palm oil which is supplemented by the sale of seasonal fruits. This removes the threat of starvation and hunger as in the worst of times, when demand for palm oil is low, the farmer is still able to feed his family well with food crops grown amongst the oil palm trees. That is indeed, what makes the oil palm such a sustainable crop. 

While other high value oilseeds crops like sunflower or groundnuts require the complete upheaval of farm lands for next seasons crop, the oil palm as a perennial crop makes it possible for farmers to mix up the farm with the planting of other food crops even between oil palm trees. This can be seen from farms all over Malaysia.

But in terms of sustainable development as defined by the United Nation’s Sustainable Develop Goals, there are shortfalls. Once food security is addressed, the logical next step is towards improving livelihoods beyond merely surviving. The existing generation of farmers in Malaysia are very aware of the need to go beyond food security and ambition towards improved livelihoods especially for their children.

Image: Smallholder farm in Malaysia with integrated livestock farming

From our field visits to these farmers and the stories they told, the stages of development can be clearly seen in how their forefathers toiled as farmers to ensure there was enough food on the table. The challenge they face in seeking better futures for their children is not quite so simple. In a developing world where education is key to empower the next generation, Malaysia’s farmers today have been known to work several jobs outside of the farm in order to save money for their children’s higher education.

For the starving masses in Madagascar, this may be seen as an unattainable luxury as they merely seek to stave off starvation. Yet, the experience of Malaysia’s oil palm farmers and the mixed crop farms they maintain provide a good working example for sustainable development where the immediate need for nutritious foods and future needs for development are met.