KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 – Malaysia needs an impactful accreditation scheme in the agri-food sector to create a recognisable brand name for the country, industry experts said today.
Malaysia has the potential to be a world-class leader in the agri-food business but is impeded by frequent changes to the national accreditation scheme, said several corporate chiefs who spoke at a forum titled, “Sharing the secrets of business in agriculture”, here.
While there were numerous certification programmes in the past, many have been forgotten and were not implemented, said Shahnas Oli Mohamed, director of Natural Wellness Holdings, which produces organic health products.
Giving an example, he said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the national corporation in charge of industrial accreditation, SIRIM Berhad, had started a programme called the Malaysia brand, and were issuing certificates to industry players to promote it.
“They have people, VIPs giving out the certificate, you get money for promotion and marketing, but where are we with this accreditation?” she asked.
“It must move from local things to something that is actually internationally-recognised. I bet everyone here is wondering what’s the Malaysian brand,” she said to a mostly silent audience.
Shahnas said Malaysia needs an accreditation scheme that is impactful.
“We need to set the standard that is a recognisable standard, number two is educating the public, the consumer, the businesses, there needs to be a cross the board education that says: ‘Hey look guys, this is the standard that we’ve implemented with fully respectable, decent products’ and companies can comply with it and it needs to be carried through, most importantly.
“I think this is, I don’t mean to point fingers at anybody, but I think this trend of starting the standard and not following it through right to the end is probably becoming habitual in Malaysia,” she said.
Shahnas who was among four panellists at the forum organised by the government’s efficiency unit, Performance Management Delivery Unit, better known by its acronym, PEMANDU.
Drawing from personal experience, she said that in the pharmaceutical industry, there was the Malaysian Biotechnology corporation, which was licensed to award companies that fulfilled its criteria a “BioNexus” status.
“But what’s happened to the BioNexus status today? It is a piece of paper hanging gloriously on our walls and Malaysia puts in a lot of effort in the Malaysia Biotechnology scheme.
“We actually took relevant companies to relevant trade shows, they participated in agri-bio shows but you see the follow-through and carry-through till the end is not there,” she said.
Another panellist, H.S. Wong, director and founder of DQ Farm, an organic retailer and wholesaler specialising in sustainable farming and permaculture, agreed with Shahnas.
He said the Malaysia’s Best brand, which represents the seal of approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry for food safety and quality, also seems to have been forgotten like many other government initiatives.
“Has anyone seen any Malaysia’s Best products in the supermarkets?” he asked the audience.
None had, judging from their lack of response.
Wong said that accreditation scheme was obviously not successful and stressed that there should be only one.
“After a while it becomes a process of gathering certificates when they are all actually the same, so just have one,” he said.
But Ibrahim Saleh, head of secretariat for delivery management office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, refuted the corporate chiefs’ claim.
He pointed to one called, Malaysia Good Agriculture Practices (MyGap), which he said was launched on August 28.
“Of course you want to be [sustainable and be implemented] so no more Malaysia’s Best, just MyGap now,” he said.
However, Ibrahim admitted that the scheme was little known to the public.
He called on PEMANDU to provide the ministry with more funds so it could further promote and market the MyGap scheme.
