Duty Slash Will Increase Agriculture Productivity

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama)- The abolishment of import duty on fertilizers and pesticides, as announced in the 2009 Budget, will contribute towards higher productivity at the farm and lower the price of agriculture products, says University Malaya Faculty of Economics & Administration Prof Dr Pazim Fadzim Othman.Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, when tabling the 2009 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday said the 5-25 percent import duty on fertilizers and pesticides will be scrapped."Our research on 600 odd farmers shows that only a small percent produce nine tonnes per hectare, compared with four to five tonnes per hectare (by the rest) because they use less fertilizer," he said at the 2009 Post-Budget Dialogue here, Saturday.The programme was jointly organised by Malaysian Economic Association and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd.Citing the high price of fertilizers and pesticides as the cause for the low productivity, Pazim said, "Everybody must understand that pesticides and fertilizers are not produced in the country and it must be imported."The import duty slash will encourage farmers to use more fertilizers and increase productivity and this will lower food price, he said.Pazim said the government's measures towards exploration of new areas for cultivation, optimisation of the usage of available resources, encouragement of private sector participation and investment were all good moves towards the goal of increasing domestic food production.The government is projecting an annual growth of 6.2 percent for the food crop sub-sector for the rest of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006 to 2010).