MALAYSIANS consume onions worth more than RM1bil a year, said Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu (pic).“In 2022, Malaysia imported a total of 687,000 metric tonnes of onions worth RM1.58bil.“Of this, 38 tonnes comprised shallots worth RM81.5mil to meet domestic demand,” the Agriculture and Food Security Minister told Datuk Idris Ahmad (PN-Bagan Serai) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He said this would mean that each person consumed approximately 1.2kg of onions a year.
Mohamad said this food item is imported from India, the Netherlands, China, Thailand and Pakistan.
To address the issue of high import costs, he said the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) began its research and development in 2020 to produce suitable seedlings, particularly to grow shallots in Malaysia.
He said shallots were selected for research and development as large onions are not suitable for cultivation.
For the first phase between 2024 and 2025, it will involve 70,000 tonnes of shallot seedlings excluding 230kg from Mardi.
About 100ha of land will be used to grow shallots under the first phase of the project to produce some 1,000 tonnes.“At present, shallots are being planted on 1.2ha of land by Negri Sembilan and Selangor farmers associations and one hectare in Bikam Plantation in Perak.
“The first harvest is expected to be in April this year,” he added.
Mohamad said that the second phase of the project, between 2026 and 2030, would involve the planting of shallots on 1,347ha of land.
He added that an estimated 14,470 tonnes of shallots, or about 30% of Malaysia’s needs, would be locally grown by 2030.“The cost for locally grown shallots may be higher than imported ones. But this must be done to ensure we have alternative shallot sources if there are sanctions or situations affecting supply from the source country,” he said.
