Agriculture in Johor : What’s Left?
Pakiam, Geoffrey Kevin | July 2018
Abstract
For those living in Singapore or Peninsular Malaysia, accustomed to having fresh chicken eggs every other morning, chances are that your breakfast comes from one of 17 million broody hens raised in the Malaysian state of Johor. If this comes as a surprise, you are probably not alone. Most recent commentaries concerning Johor’s economic growth give the impression that agriculture is now a historical relic. The Iskandar Malaysia development project — accompanied by glittery real estate, oil and gas refining, complex manufacturing, mass tourism, and sophisticated healthcare offerings — now hogs the limelight. Indeed, even for field-leading scholarship on greater Malaysia’s economic development, agriculture has been conspicuous by its relative absence, sidelined by an overwhelming focus on manufacturing and services.
This essay represents an initial attempt to redress this imbalance. I ask two basic questions: what is left of agriculture in Johor? And why? My argument is similarly direct: although agriculture’s share of Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) and employment has fallen significantly, much remains, particularly in Johor. Amidst rapid urbanization and industrialization, agriculture’s economic contribution in Johor has actually held steady and witnessed resurgence over the past decade. Johor’s present-day agricultural strengths lie in oil palms, livestock farming, and certain forms of ornamental products. These agricultural activities are underlined both by high output and productivity relative to the rest of Malaysia. The clusters of trade networks and expertise underpinning these developments were already being developed in Johor prior to independence, and were given additional support from the 1960s onwards through policies linking industry with agriculture.
Citation
Pakiam, Geoffrey Kevin. 2018. Agriculture in Johor : What’s Left?. © ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/8601.PDF ISBN
978-981-4818-82-7
Print ISBN
978-981-4818-81-0
ISSN
0219-3213
Keywords
Sustainable agriculture
Commercial agriculture
Agricultural And Rural Development
Asian Development Bank
Water Resources Development
Sustainable Development
Agribusiness
Agroindustry
Agricultural institutes
Agricultural development
distribution
Joint projects
Development models
Industrial policy
Education
Social Development
Food Supply
Food Security
Organic dairy farming
Organic floriculture
Organic viticulture
Produce trade
Crop
Organic gardening
Economic development
New agricultural enterprises
Cooperative agriculture
Government policy
Entrepreneurship
Communication in rural development
Development banks
Rural land use
Land use
Natural resource
Water supply
Mill
Irrigation systems
Show allCollapse