Friend of mine bought a tomato for RM1.20 at the Tanjung Bunga market.
Now you would think a RM1.20 tomato would have to be pretty special.
No, this was just a little tomato, not even big and juicy.
Unlike ordinary tomatoes that would rot in a few days if left in the open, this one could keep for a while. Makes you wonder.
If a tomato could cost RM1.20, imagine the prices of other fruit and vegetables. The question is, how are the lower-income group coping? As food prices soar, as real wages remain stagnant and as overtime pay is slashed, many among the working class are struggling to put food on the table for their families – while some of our leaders squander our nation’s resources and their spouses go on shopping sprees abroad.
Back in school, we were taught that the three essentials of life are food, shelter and clothing. Let’s focus on item one on the list. While we have grand NKRAs and common frameworks, what are we doing about the price of vegetables?
In the name of (misguided) “development”, we have lost the vegetable farms in our towns. Now, we have to bring in vegetables from farther away – Cameron Highlands, China, Australia and elsewhere – some of them perhaps genetically modified or laced with pesticides and preservatives, who knows.
This is not only bad news for food self-sufficiency and sustainability and security, but the loss of food security also makes us vulnerable to the global food crisis. Worse, the transportation of food from great distances to our dining tables is a major contributor to global emissions.
What could be done: open up unused or idle state land, now filled with undergrowth, and make that available for sustainable organic or permaculture farming. Encourage and support small farmers. Urge households not to cement their lawns and instead grow some food in their gardens or even in their apartment common spaces, corridors and balconies.
Every bit helps. Remember, we can’t eat microchips.
Blog reader My Blog adds:
Anil, I also go to the Tanjung Bungah market. Earlier red chilies use to cost RM5 per kilo when the supply was less, last week it was RM10 per kilo, week before last RM12 per kilo. All vegetables have drastically gone up in price. I talk to the vegetable seller, he just smiles and says ‘apa boleh bikin, semua sudah mahal’, not even saying it is expensive because of rains etc which means temporary.
High cost of living is here to stay, even if gormen change, the damage is already done. Tomato not so expensive lah, if I am not wrong about RM5 or 6 per kilo. You can buy for use today or a bit less ripe which you can use for several days, if put in the fridge can last 1-2 weeks.
Fruits, again even banana and papaya also expensive, I bought a large bunch of banana and 1 medium size papaya already cost me about RM12 and I wanted a watermelon, when I heard the price, I told him it is okay, can do without.
It is bad times for me like many others, so even few dollars makes the difference. If the gormen keeps up with its badly thought out policies, I envisage it getting worse. If they offer me land, I will start a vegetable farm…
New blog post: The RM1.20 tomato http://bit.ly/8y7kkr
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The RM1.20 tomato « anilnetto.com: This is not only bad news for food self-sufficiency, sustainability and security and http://url4.eu/xuSV
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The RM1.20 tomato « anilnetto.com: This is not only bad news for food self-sufficiency, sustainability and security and http://url4.eu/xucJ
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Everyone can grow his/her own greens with little investment and effort through hydroponics. Space is not a big issue as long as there is direct sunlight to your sprouts several hours a day.
You may grow your vegetables in the balconies of your apartment. It will take leafy vegetables to reach maturity from seeds in less than a month.
Remember to cover your growing vegetables with wire mesh nets as caterpillars can be an annoying nuisance.
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Dear Anil,
Haven’t you heard already? Nobody cares for the poor, the old, the disenfranchised in Malaysia.
All the attentions have been on the Datuk, Datin, Tan Sri, Puan Sri, Datuk Seri, Datin Seri, Datuk Seri Utama, Datin Seri Utama, and Tun.
Every single birthday of every single Sultan / governor, hundreds of Datuk / Tan Sri / Datuk Seri / Datuk Seri Utama are given out.
The newspaper reporters take their pictures, and then others spending money to advertise congratulatory messages on the papers, with those pretty pictures of a guy in ridiculous suit, wearing a ridiculous hat, and the main point is, they all smile ridiculously.
Anil, don’t you see that our soap are shrinking in size?
Used to be 120g per bar of soap. Then it shrunk to 100g, to 80g and now, 75g / 70g.
Maggi Mee (and all other instant noodles) are shrinking in size too.
So are milk powder, oats, and even (a cocoa-based beverage).
Last time it was 2KG per pack. Then it went down to 1.8KG, then 1.6KG, then 1.4KG.
Then they re-introduce the 2KG pack, with DOUBLE the price.
1KG pack of oat products are very hard to find nowadays. They are either 800g or 750g or 700g. Selling at the previous 1KG price.
What does this mean, Anil?
Price hike is one. But there’s more.
It’s a way of cheating the customers.
Customers used to buy soap, and most of them just buy soap, not looking at the weight.
Last time they bought the soap weighting in 120g. Now they are spending EVEN MORE MONEY to buy soap weighting 80g.
Most people don’t even realized that they have been cheated. More than often they blame themselves for using TOO MUCH soap !
And the wonderful thing is, the government is doing nothing !
No, I am not talking of price control.
I am talking of government NOT doing anything to stop the cheating.
Government could standardize the weight of soap bar, for example. So that the consumers will get soap as it should have been — a bar of soap that doesn’t come pre-shrunk.
But I am asking too much.
Our government is only interested in building big things.
The Barisan Nasional government is thinking of building the world’s tallest building and the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang is thinking of building a convention center.
To them, building something makes better sense than protecting the consumers.
Ay… this bolehland mentality… ay …
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And I thought eating an RM1 imported apple was a luxury!
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A very touching article. Inspires me to continue helping the poor, and yes, start growing vegetables in my garden.
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Anil I also go to the Tanjung Bungah market. Earlier red chilies use to cost RM5 per kilo when the supply was less, last week it was RM10 per kilo, week before last RM12 per kilo. All vegetables have drastically gone up in price. I talk to the vegetable seller, he just smiles and says ‘apa boleh bikin, semua sudah mahal’, not even saying it is expensive because of rains etc which means temporary.
High cost of living is here to stay, even if gormen change, the damage is already done. Tomato not so expensive lah, if I am not wrong about RM5 or 6 per kilo. You can buy for use today or a bit less ripe which you can use for several days, if put in the fridge can last 1-2 weeks.
Fruits, again even banana and papaya also expensive, I bought a large bunch of banana and 1 medium size papaya already cost me about RM12 and I wanted a watermelon, when I heard the price, I told him it is okay, can do without.
It is bad times for me like many others, so even few dollars makes the difference. If the gormen keeps up with its badly thought out policies, I envisage it getting worse. If they offer me land, I will start a vegetable farm but you see I am born in Malaysia pendatang.
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YES BOOT OUT 52 YEARS OF CORRUPTED UMNO – BN GOVERNMENT ONCE & FOR ALL…
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And the hypermarket are also cheaters… When the offer price is 1.50 per kg, after weighing make sure that the price tagged is that amount. When the offer is 2.50 makes sure after checking out, the receipts is that amount. On many occasion I found out that it is otherwise and not the offer price as stated.
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I found following statement sound silly from a businessman perspective:
—————————————–
“Every bit helps. Remember, we can’t eat microchips”
—————————————–
Some info for sharing, the price of CPU by Intel:
QUAD CORE i7-965 RM 3680*
*reference: http://www.thundermatch.com.my/assets/public/pricelist1.pdf
Why businessman need to sell more than 3000++ tomato, when they can make it by selling a single CPU chip?
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I was looking at it from the perspective of people who are struggling to pay for food for their families.
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Gerakan K,
I am not being personal but really please do not always quote people out of context which you are very fond of.
Anil was just summarizing up his article with a message to all readers, that every little bit helps. Nothing can be further from the truth, what is the point of having a good bank balance when there is no food to buy? Seriously can you eat microchips, Gerakan K?
If everyone puts that little effort to grow some of their own greens, you can see the effect it will have on the economy. It will not only bring the prices of certain commodities to reasonable levels, but you will enjoy better quality food as well.
Right now there is no pricing mechanisms because of lack of controls and also because of the tidakapathy attitude of people like you, Gerakan K.
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so what are you doing beside frowning and frowning, Anil?
what have you done for Kg buah pala and the heritage hotel issue so far beside whacking the PR gov?
what have you contributed to the people of penang so far?
giving ideas on paper is one thing. to execute is another thing. do something and show it to us instead of keep complaining, Anil.
may be you can kick start the campaign – growing vegetable and fruits at one’s backyard. dont just complain.
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Growing our own food and becoming self sufficient: The state govt should take this up as a key policy area, as it involves land issues, incentives and training, and requires institutional support and financial backing. Something along the lines of the plastic bag campaign but as a key economic thrust to make food self-sufficiency a priority.
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Growing your own vegetable may not be everyone’s cup of tea and as such community farm has great merit. In such a farm consumers can offer sweat equity in exchange for healthy, organically grown, pesticide and weedicide free vegetable. The farm land could be provided by the government or as part of any housing development.
Sweat equity can be offered as one’s own sweat or purchased by hiring a worker to work on the consumer’s behalf. The arrangement could be organised by the government or preferably a farmer’s cooperative or anyone in the community, such as retirees, who are willing to take up the role. Pay is again in terms of vegetables.
From researches on intensive farming a 100 sq ft land could support 4 persons(typically 1 family) for 3 servings of vegetable daily throughout the year. This is for organic farming. Organic farming tended to be very productive from 3 year onwards. So the productivity will go up over time.
Another model that could be adopted is known as CSA or community supported agriculture.For further infor :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture
One way to reduce cost in subscription based community supported agriculture, particularly in vegetable growing is to have the last week or two weeks before maturity of the vegetable to be grown in the subscriber’s home. This means a rack with a self-watering mechanism has to be installed in the subscriber’s home. Potted vegetables will be delivered to the subscriber weekly. Subscriber harvest their own vegetable. I had thought of doing this until I broke my arm. Hope someone could take up the challenge.
Complementary land use such as having tomatoes growing downwards and chilli growing upwards within the same plot of land will reduce cost and increase productivity.
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Hi Mist,
Sounds like you have a few great ideas there.
I am sure they are workable….
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Hydroponic method should be used in the land scarce state like Penang. I believe Penang can be self-sufficient in the vegetable supply if more resources are challenged to this green sector.
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Sorry, nkkhoo,
This reply is meant for Gerakan K.
Berry cannot be more correct to qualify that Gerakan K is a broken down old record of KTK. Naive and arrogant is his reply classifying that the agricultural and arts sector as useless, sheer ignorance, what a pity! Another product of BTN and BN/Gerakan…… unfortunately Gerakan had been kicked out totally in Penang and almost totally nationwide. And now he is actively participating in the NKRA, and actively contributing his ideas too. Hopefully something good will come out from his attending the NKRA.
Another thing, nkkhoo, you are talking about ten million you know? That is such huge money la, can you get back your returns? Gerakan K, mentioned one CPU lesson for RM3,000 you know? Sometimes, khoo, difficult to educate this block head.
Just does not realize that it is essential for humans depend on food to survive and still continuing to argue till his throat hoarse on CPU for RM3,000, RM3,000 and RM3,000.
Ask him which is the biggest fast food market in the country, he will probably tell you it is KFC, Mcdonalds, Pizza Hut and what not, because he can only see so far. Any idea what is it Gerakan K? Today is boxing day, wants to go for a boxing match la, want to sleep now. LOL, cheers bro.
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I had tried hydroponic and soil growing and at the back of my mind I somehow sense that there is something not right with hydroponic. Why does a plant, supposedly with all the necessary condition for growth would sprout so much roots ? If you understand why plants increase its roots growth you will understand that the tremendous increase in root growth of hydroponic plants is because it is “lacking” something. In the early years of research on hydroponics some researchers particularly in netherland found that soil-based plants have small amount of hormones found near the root system. The relationship between soil microorganism and the plant is more complex than we at first thought.
Hydroponics vegetables are very large, juicy but it just isn’t “fulfilling”
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If BN Federal government can loan me ten million, I will start a hydroponic farm in Penang Island.
No money, no action.
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I like comments like Alonso Fulat’s. “If you don’t like the government you’re in, make your own damn government!”
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Gerakan K speaks like a broken down record of Koh Tsu Koon. Also Dalibinder Singh thinks too highly of himself. He should go back studying like he does best.
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That is why many people still live in poverty. Please, ask your children and anyone to study engineering/computer science and not the useless agriculture/history/literacture/geography.
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Silly little twit. Who will grow your food ? Try eating a micro-chip the next time you were in front of a computer.
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You still don’t get the idea? Malaysia already transformed and we do not have the competitive advantage when comparing with China and the others in agriculture industries. Go for value added industries such as IT (hardware/software) to ensure high return investment. Remember 3000++ tomato vs 1 CPU chip lesson. In today’s borderless world, self sufficiency is no longer relevant. We need to do import (food) and export (semiconductor).
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Ah, but what happens when other countries have less food to export to us because they have to feed their own domestic populations?
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In what way has Malaysia transformed to be globally competitive? In what segment of the economy are we competitively competitive against the Chinese? Name one Malaysian enterprise that is competing competitively in the value added and high return economy globally? Please do not talk about the local sundry shop’s turnover against the global chains like TEsco, Carrefour and Giant, Gerakan K.
Another thing, the transformation of the retail trade should have given you a clear indication of how big the agricultural market is. Previously, no supermarkets were interested in selling these agricultural products, but, with the advent of hypermarkets, brought in by foreigners of course, because people like Gerakan K, cannot understand and see the market size of the agricultural sector, see, how much greens and agricultural products are being sold to in these premises today.
A good indication of how big the market is, is to measure the size of the department allocated in each store. These hypermarket operators are not stupid to allocate huge space for small turnover, and unprofitable items. See the space they allocate for computers and related products. These hypermarkets operators are not stupid like Gerakan K, to buy huge plots of lands to cultivate their agricultral produce for sales if the market is not huge and not profitable. Please see the huge plot of land near Ipoh, which Tesco had bought, to cultivate these products, this information is for Gerakan K, to please take a leasuirely drive along the NS Highway and open up his eyes!
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No offence here, money can buy virtually anything including food (for higher than normal price), love, action in showing love, people time & effort, weapons and a lot more that you will probably censor it I were listed them here. This is the reality that I observed. So the main concern here is that do something that is worthwhile relatively, ie choosing the best option to earn the most. Yes, people are generally selfish. I don’t pretend I’m not. But I’m not poor and rely on other help & sympathy.
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Gerakan K,
You are so fond of flaunting your wealth in this blog.
Further it only goes to show your class when you say money can buy you “love, show of love”, cannot agree more that you people always like the “syiok sendiri” syndrome only. No wonder you can feel Najib’s positive action.
While money can buy you false love, and show of love,as you mentioned, syiok sendiri always, it can also buy you AIDS!!!!!
Beware Gerakan K.
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You seem to know the cost of everything and not the value of anything.
What is the value of self-sufficiency and food security ?
When I was in myanmar one of the things I had observed was how well the people eat inspite of abject poverty. A graduate managing a bookstore in yangon only earned the equivalent of US$7/= a month about 8 or so years back.
Recently in one of the blogs someone commented how well the kelantanese eat eventhough there were obvious poverty all round.
What economic cost do you put on such self-produced quality and healthy food ? What is the real value of such self-sufficiency ? Can you even measure ?
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Good point, Mist. There are some things that are beyond $$$.
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Dalinbinder? Who is DalIbinder
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Berry, come stay with me for 1 week. At least you will be able to rate how highly I think of myself. Not criticizing you back but this is a practical way of “criticism” “reply” and solution.
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Growing food (especially vegetables) is big business in this country. If you visit the Cameron Highlands you can see acres upon acres of vegetable farms run by the (Chinese) with the help of (foreign workers) from neighbouring countries.
Greens sold at the green markets in Cameron Highlands are less than a third of what they sell in Penang. Even if we factor in transportation costs, I believe the present supply chain has too many mark ups. A more cost effective way should be devised to bring those greens to the urban markets.
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I think RM1.20 for a tomato is a bit too high, I would like to believe for vegetables (even seafood), some time places like hypermarket is a bit cheaper as they got it directly from the farm or the source. Those small time vegetables seller just can’t cope with the rising cost of operation (middle man and etc), hence the end consumer is the one will have to bear the overall costs.
Come to how the poor cope with the rising costs.
We felt blessed when my wife and I went marketing some time ago, while we are buying chicken meat, fresh vegetables and fruits for our daily consumptions, we noticed a simply old lady, buying a bag full of chicken feet, neck and some internal organs for only RM1.00, I believe the chicken seller is practically giving that for free. And, that’s their meal for a day with curry/dhal with only white rice.
Think about it people. Some of us are so blessed to have sumptuous meals everyday. Count on our blessing and make sure we make the correct move in the next GE13.
Blessed Christmas & Healthy New Year comrades.
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Many have lamented that the Ringgit has ‘shrunk’ over the years. Pay has remained relatively the same (only increase was following official inflation rate of 2%). However the real inflation is closer to 10-15%
The rakyat uses food as the real benchmark for inflation as that is the absolute necessity. Look at how a mix rice lunch was RM3 back in 1997 is now RM5. How a roti canai used to be RM0.60 is now RM1. And even the RM1 roti canai is smaller in size, the curry watered down (used to be proper dhall curry).
It wouldnt surprise me if all those Datin/Datin Seri/Puan Sri/Toh Puan are not be aware of the price increase of food for they care more about is the price of Lois Vutton/Jimmy Choo/Prada/Channel. They’ll probably ask us to eat sweet potato if we cant afford rice !!!!
This country will be the next Philippines if UMNO cont. to stay in power. Back in the 50′s & 60′s Philippines was the Singapore equivalent of the region. A vibrant & booming country. After 21 yrs of Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, greed & corruption, look at where the Philippines is now. Even after Marcos overthrow, its still badly mismanaged (with the exception of Corazon Aquino). The culture of greed & corruption is so deeply rooted into the next generation that even Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cant (handle) it.
So be warned M’sia. If you allow UMNO to stay in power, your children will be the main export by being maids/general workers for SEA/Asia/Middle East.
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Friends of mine from the Philippine told me that the only way corruption can changed of is to do what Korea, Taiwan did – the top leader must go to jail. In other words, so long as no Malaysian PM goes to jail, so long corruption will continue and any changes is cosmetic and marginal.
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I think the tomato cost RM1.20 because it was grown in Penang.
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so shoudnt we feel blessed that an altenative party is gaining strength to check on the corrupted government that rule this country more than 50 years?
because of the datuks, datins and their decendents, the entire nation suffer.
rm1.20 per tomato is only one of the example.
just the cost of the two fighter jet engine itself can finance thousands of students to higher education.
how many millions more does the country has to be wasted and stolen this way?
fikirlah kawan before its too late .
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I agree with you, Big Joe.
I also believe unless and until corrupt leaders, to the level of PM, go to jail, it is difficult for this country to be rid of corruption.
To do that, we must first relegate BN to opposition for at least 2 terms. Taking a cue from other reformed countries, don’t expect existing leaders to send one of their own kind to prison. That will never happen.
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To add to the rising cost will be the soon-to-be-introduced GST. The middleclass, the poor and the retired will find it costlier just to get by on a day to day basis. What a nightmare!!!
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Reject BN if GST really implemented.
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Growing vegetable on your backyard is the work for retiree/elder who have nothing to do. Please, find some part time jobs instead. Let say that with doing a part time job, you will probably earn few hundreds extra. With this additional income, you can cover any price increase in common goods such as vegetable, fruit, and other daily essentials.
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If everyone follows what you say, there will be no food, fruits, greens and other agricultural essentials to buy. Perhaps we have to eat microchips then.
Why encourage people to into other jobs when they can make equally good monies out of agriculture? Because of dunggus like you, Malaysia has lost its competitive edge in every segment of the economy. We were once the largest exporters of natural rubber, tin and palm oil, today, we are neither here nor there.
We tried to follow the trend then to industrialize, the discovery of oil and the set up of Petronas was one honourable intention by the Government then, i.e to educate Malaysians, make Malaysia a knowledge base society with the monies from oil, and together with the knowledge acquired from quality and higher education, we move forward to industrialization and make Malaysians a high income economy. But, unfortunately, as it always had been under the BN/UMNO, the whole plan was hijacked and instead was replaced by BTN. Now the monies are gone for good, and Malaysia is left hanging in dry air. Not here agriculturally and even further academically and making Malaysia a destination to avoid when it comes to investments, because there are just too many “Jacks of all trades and master of none”, and the best example is Gerakan K.
Just hope that you are abit enlightened. Merry Christmas bro.
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Anil, It is the reality we have to face with the current market supply and demand situation.
But the cases of many Chinese primary schools parents are forced to accepet the facts of blackmailing by the corrupted headmasters is amtter of inevitable circustances!
My standard four boy were forced to purchase 22 “optional” reference books recommended by the teachers as an option, without purchasing these books he can not participate in the class activities.
Guess what the kick back on these reference book (allegedly) ranged from 35% to 50%. Imagine RM 150 price tag withe bulk purchase without a single cent discounts>…
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Good idea, Anil, you can assist in this matter by highlighting the plight of many parents on this issue that had been hounding the Chinese schools for a long time. No wonder at one time there was a businessman from Selangor who offered RM500,000 to get to the bottom of this matter, which incidentally plagues Chinese schools only.
Another point for your goodself to highlight is the compulsory computer classes that the children in Chinese primary schools need to attend and they seem to be paying above RM100 per annum, I guess. Imagine from standard 1 onwards, just check the enrolments of the school and x1oo each, another scandal in the making? There had been much grumblings by the village folks, even in semi urban Penang about this, but as usual, there is nothing these poor people could do, as they do not have a platform to highlight their plights!
Cheers and Happy New Year!
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Gerakan K: You missed the point.
If real inflation was managed properly, if the country isnt sucked dry by the corrupted politicians, their family & cronies & if rakyat money was not wasted on white elephant projects/schemes…. it would not be necessary to find a part time or second job just to put food on the table.
A Gov is suppose to look after the people; not the crooked politicians & his cronies.
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I really must disagree with those who think that agriculture is not important, that we should not send our kids to study agriculture, and even those who propose solving the food problem with growing vegetables in our backyard. Agriculture and downstream food production is a major industry in some countries, both as domestic food supply, as well as a major export industry. For eg in Holland, http://us.holland.com/e/8129/Agriculture.php advanced farming techniques has made farming a very successful venture for the Dutch. In California, home of Silicon Valley, agriculture is a major industry http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/ and closer to home, Thailand has been the leader in rice and other food exports. And China is a huge market for U.S. chicken feet, commonly called paws, and bought 421,000 tonnes, or $280 million worth, in 2008, according to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. So food production, if done properly, can ensure adequate food supply at reasonable prices to consumers, provide gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of people, and gain foreign exchange for the country. But like most things, we don’t do things right in this country. Land is an issue. I don’t want to start on this but look what happened in Perak when PR started issuing freehold or long-leasehold land title to farmers in order to overcome farmer’s insecurity regarding land and to ignite a revolution in agriculture. BN just killed off PR. I don’t want to go on to other issues but I’ll just say that I will definitely encourage my kids to study Agriculture/Biosciences in college.
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Be direct and less diplomatic as we are discussing online. I think you are going backward. Please don’t miss the boat, particularly the young one. To make the long story short, please read following article.
Article title: Economic History of Malaysia
Author: John H. Drabble, University of Sydney, Australia
URL: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/drabble.malaysia
If you still believing in agriculture that hold the future, then I may wish you good luck.
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ghkok, is not being diplomatic with his comments but he is just more refine, educated and exposed in the corporate world! Cheers bro!
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