Root Crop Production, Utilization and Marketing in Malaysia

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14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops. 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. Introduction Status report: Root crops- minor cash crops Root Crop Production, Main root crops in Malaysia- Cassava, sweetpotato and cocoyam Utilization and Marketing Total area planted with cash crops- in Malaysia 13,000 ha Out of these, only 37.8% were planted S.L. Tan and A. Zaharah with tuber crops Rice & Industrial Crops Research Centre Malaysian Agric. Res. & Dev. Institute (MARDI) MALAYSIA 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 2

Area planted (ha) with tuber crops Production statistics on cassava and SPotato in Peninsular Malaysia 2006 in Malaysia 2001

Sweet Coco Area Prod. Av. yield Cassava Total Crop potato yam Crop (ha) (t) (t/ha) Peninsular 1,722.2 1,288.4 628.6 3,639.2 Malaysia Cassava 2,427 31,546 13.0 East 1,029.9 125.3 118.6 1,273.8 Malaysia Total 2,752.1 1,413.7 747.2 4,913.0 SPotato 1,899 28,478 15.0

14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 3 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 4

1 Cassava Production Cassava Production...... Cassava was an industrial root crop grown in the past up to a peak of 22,000 ha in 1976. During this era, Malaysia was a net exporter of Currently, the main production areas are in starch Æ to Europe, Canada, USA and Japan the states of Johor, Selangor and Perak Recently, the role of cassava as a starch source has become smaller mainly because of the located on mineral soils and drained lower price (~US$0.05/kg) peatland. Whereas Edible Cassava roots fetch high price MARDI has complete production (US$0.10-0.14/kg. Less interest by farmers to grow cassava for technology packages for these two main starch factories groups of soils In 1980’s Malaysia becoming net importer of starch

Cassava Production...... problems. Sweet Potato Production Sweetpotato has always been a minor cash crop Even though there is good demand for starch - Major growing areas: Suitable land is not available. A small starch – on tin-tailings (in rotation with yam-bean in Perak) factory Æ around 1,500-2,000 ha – drained peat (in Selangor and Johor), – The operation requires mechanization to some extent – bris sandy soil (as an off-season crop in tobacco to overcome labor constraints for field operations farms in Kelantan) and such as planting and harvesting. – on paddy land (as in the off-season in single-crop – The use of field machines rules out peat and hilly areas in Kedah). areas Sweetpotato has an advantage over cassava Æ less competition from more lucrative crops. – Bris and tin-tailings (sandy soils) can be planted with The coming implementation date for AFTA in 2010 Æ cassava, but need higher fertilizer inputs. need to find alternative for tobacco. One such crop is – Sandy soils in wind-prone areas can give rise to large sweetpotato crop losses through lodging because of poorer The NTB currently actively promoting sweetpotato to anchorage of the roots in sand. some established food processors

2 Cassava Utilisation Cassava utilisation..... Domestic demand for cassava starch good – main uses Edible cassava: – Monosodium glutamate or msg, a flavor enhancer. – Monosodium glutamate or msg, a flavor enhancer. – For fresh consumption (boiled or fried) – Recently, demand for cassava dried up – faced – Recently, demand for cassava dried up – faced – Processing into traditional snack food such as difficulties in securing constant supply of starch difficulties in securing constant supply of starch kerepek (oil-fried crisps), keropok (crackers) and locally locally opak. – The company decided to use glutamic acid instead – The company decided to use glutamic acid instead – Modern snacks such as chips (similar to those potato of starch as raw materials. of starch as raw materials. chips in canisters), extruded snacks, and even fries. – Other major uses :glucose, paper products, the yeast, small foods (rice vermicelli, noodles, sauces, Lately – interest in growing cassava to make ice cream, biscuits and snack foods), textile and biofuel as well as biodegradable plastic. Starch laundry industries. Glucose in turn is used in varieties will be suitable but the issue - beverages and confectionery. availability of large tracts of suitable land.

Technologies available at MARDI Sweet Potato Utilisation – Suitable varieties for starch and Sweetpotato is sold for fresh use with no edible cassava major processing industry – Production Technology (agronomic Except for small-scale production of and cultural practices) traditional snacks or as a filler in Chinese – Machine systems for mechanization pastries, such as moon-cakes during the on mineral soils Mid-Autumn festival. – Processing technologies for This dependence on the fresh market traditional and snacks food products limits the production of sweetpotato, leading to drastic drops in price when production is expanded suddenly. 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 11 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 12

3 Sweetpotato utilisation..... Production Tehnologies Processing technologies for a range of Sweetpotato can be a very nutritious raw food products material for processed food and beverage Varieties suitable for processing products, Crop Production technologies – Orange-fleshed varieties are rich in ß- – sandy soils (bris and tin-tailings), mineral carotene soils, acid sulphate soils and drained peat. – Purple-fleshed ones are rich in anthocyanin – The technology includes fertilization, – Rich in vitamins C and E, potassium and cropping system and mechanization. dietary fiber

Products Developed by MARDI Products - MARDI..cont. Product Product Types Types category category Bakery Cakes, muffins, biscuits, bread, sweet Breakfast food Extruded products products buns Sauces Sweetpotato sauce, sweetpotato- Traditional Premix flours for nine types (bingka, seri chili sauce cakes muka, keria, lopes, kuih kacau, kuih lapis, cek mek molek, onde-onde and Sweet filling For buns pudding) Fried products French fries,doughnut, breaded Snacks Crispy sweetpotato chips, hard candy, sweetpotato, nugget sweetpotato rounds, vacuum-fried crisps (kerepek), extruded snacks Beverages Straight juice, milky drink Pasta Wet noodles

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Product developed.....MARDI SNACKS

Incorporating Sweetpotato as raw material POTATO to the above products will help to offset the SUBSTITUTE high food import bill to substitute wheat flour (annual import around US$220 million) as well as Irish potato (annual CARROT imports of US$16.5 million) as fries and SUBSTITUTE other snacks.

BREAKFAST CEREALS

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Yields of Gendut on various soil types

Mineral soils Bris Drained peat Tin-tailings Acid sulphate soils

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 Fresh root yield (t/ha) yield root Fresh 0

i i g n g a n un an era i tia d ap eb n Bidor r P T ag K u B Po K Linggi Se g Kundang Rh S Jln erang b Se GENDUT Location

6 Cassava Marketing Cassava marketing Cassava used to be planted almost Cassava marketing exclusively for the starch extraction industry. This situation has completely reversed. Out of Currently- about 17% of the 2,400 ha planted by 20 starch factories that existed – only 2 a single plantation in Peninsular Malaysia is remain in operation. growing cassava to make snacks (mainly crisps – Cheap cassava starch imports from neighbouring or chips) for both domestic and export cassava Thailand Most edible cassava goes towards cottage – The price differential between roots for starch and roots for food. industries – Roots for starch ~ farm gate US$0.05/kg – processing oil-fried crisps in various flavors – Edible roots ~higher price Æ US$0.10-0.14/kg. – For making tapai, a fermented dessert product. – Most of small farmers prefer to plant edible cassava

Sweet Potato Marketing Sweet Potato Marketing Sweetpotato as yet has no major industry to absorb Retail prices supply Æ price very unstable – Local varieties Æ US$0.55-0.82/kg. Sweetpotato prices – Imported varieties Æ US$1.35 to US$1.80 per kilogram sold in supermarkets and wet markets – US$.010 to US$0.27 per kg roots at the farm gate As long as there is no significant downstream industry – Depending on the variety – orange/purple flesh higher price based on sweetpotato, there is not much room for – Time of the year - higher prices are encountered yearly during expansion in sweetpotato area. fasting month MARDI is trying hard to interest food processing The middlemen are responsible for transporting the companies to use sweetpotato as a raw ingredient for the roots to the wholesale markets in the cities. range of products mentioned earlier. – There is no proper grading system Æ it is based only root size A company which is currently exporting frozen cassava – FAMA - “fair and acceptable quality” roots and processed cassava products has shown active Farmers sell their produce directly in weekly farmer interest in including sweetpotato in their product line. markets known as pasar tani (managed by FAMA), – They are prepared to pay US$0.11 for one kilogram of fresh thus bypassing the middleman. sweetpotato to farmers who wish be contracted by the company.

7 Conclusion Conclusion The future of root crops in Malaysia – in particular Sweetpotato has several advantages over cassava cassava and sweetpotato – appears to be linked to – it is adapted to a range of marginal soils. the parallel development of downstream processing – it can withstand strong winds (whereas cassavacassava willwill lodge)lodge) into food products. – it has a much shorter cropping cycle (3½-4 months) into food products. – it can be more nutritious Starch production seems somewhat unpromising Cassava, on the other hand given the low prices offered by starch factories as well – less susceptible to serious pest and disease as the ready availability of starch imports from MARDI does not give research attention to cocoyam Thailand. – The crop has several desirable characteristics that should be When root crops are used as raw materials for mentioned processing food products, a farmer can expect better – The digestibility of cocoyamcocoyam starch is about 98.8 % prices for his cassava or sweetpotato. – It can be used by foods for infants Æ it is indeed widely used in prices for his cassava or sweetpotato. infant formula in the USA, and it has become an important Processing can be directly from the fresh roots (small- constituent of proprietary canned baby foods. scale or cottage industries), or go by way of an – Like sweetpotato, cocoyam can also be processed into many intermediate storable product, i.e. flour for the larger forms of snack foods. scale commercial plants). 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 14th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 29 20-26 November, 2006. Kerala, India. 30

Thank You for your attention

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