Palm | Kelapa Sawit

This is a video posted by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) on YouTube about how much food is currently being imported into Japan to satisfy the changing need in Japanese diet. It also encourages Japanese to change their diet for better health and ensuring future food security of Japan.

There are 2 issues here. Firstly, this is a good example of how Internet media can be used to help spread government intention to a emerging group of netizens in the country. Internet IS a friend to the government because YouTube is free and it is accessible to a wider audience than public seminars, pamphlets or TV.

Secondly, the issue being discussed here is VERY TRUE. The same would apply to any country, not just Japan. I don't know exactly how much food are we importing into Malaysia but obviously we imports a lot from China, Thailand, Australia and others.
"According to Dr Amin, who is also UPM's senior lecturer in agro-business and information technology, Malaysia's food import bill had reached RM23 billion in 2007. (read more)"

What makes the matter even worst is that US started to use corn to make bio-fuel (Ethanol-85%). Corn has always been the animal feed for cow, goat and pigs. Malaysia imports shiploads of those corn from the US to feed our chickens and ducks. This is why we see a price hike for food.

Here's the video. Watch and think, what will happen 5-10 years down the road.