Malaysia spends billions of ringgit every year to support our farmers. The intention is right. The outcomes, however, deserve a closer look.

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Despite decades of generous subsidies, our rice self-sufficiency has slipped to around 56 per cent. Our farmers are getting older. Most still work small plots of land averaging just two hectares. Our soils, studied over fifty years since the Green Revolution, show wildly different needs from one district to the next, yet we continue to distribute fertiliser and inputs as if every farm were the same. When global rice markets tightened recently, Malaysia had to scramble overseas to secure 500,000 tonnes of white rice just to keep our buffers stable.

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These are not small problems. They are signals that the way we fund and support agriculture needs serious rethinking.

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This seminar brings together three groups who rarely sit at the same table long enough to design real solutions:

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• Academics - who understand the science and the systems

• Industry players - who know what works and what fails on the ground and

• Policymakers - who hold the levers of change. For one focused convening, we will examine the structural realities of Malaysian agriculture, learn from international models that have delivered measurable returns, and work together to shape practical recommendations.

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The discussion will centre on two interconnected questions that matter for the country’s future:

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1. How do we restructure agricultural subsidies so that public money builds long-term capability rather than short-term dependence? Subsidies are not the problem in themselves. The design is. We will examine where current spending succeeds, where it leaks, and where small reforms can unlock outsized gains.

2. How do we set innovation priorities that genuinely reflect what farmers need? Too often, research agendas are written far from the paddy field. We will explore how farmers themselves can be brought into the centre of innovation funding decisions, and how Malaysia can borrow the best ideas from co-investment models that have generated proven returns elsewhere, including Australia’s levy system which has delivered roughly ten ringgit of value for every ringgit invested.

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This is not a seminar for passive listening. Participants will be invited to actively contribute to a set of policy recommendations that will be synthesised and shared with relevant ministries and agencies. Your expertise, your field experience, and your institutional perspective will directly shape the conversation that policymakers take forward.

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If you care about the future of Malaysian food security, the dignity and prosperity of our farmers, and the smart use of public funds, this is a conversation worth showing up for.