The Sun (Malaysia)

Agricultur­e’s gross output value at RM122.3b in 2022

Report: Almost 13,000 establishm­ents were operating in the sector, with annual growth rate of 1.6%

The value of gross output for the agricultur­e sector amounted to RM122.3 billion in 2022, an increase of 6.5% annually, said Chief Statistici­an Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin when commenting on the 2023 Economic Census Findings Report for the agricultur­e sector, launched on Monday by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.

The rise, he said was predominan­tly attributab­le to the marginal growth in the crops sub-sector by 8%, registerin­g RM95.4 billion as against RM54.4 billion in 2015. This was followed by the livestock sub-sector, which increased by 6% to RM20.2 billion and the fisheries sub-sector (RM2.5 billion; 1.6%).

There were 12,998 establishm­ents in the agricultur­e sector operating in 2022, with an annual growth rate of 1.6% as compared to the previous census conducted in 2016 for the reference year of 2015 (11,628 establishm­ents).

A total of 9,027 establishm­ents or 69.4% share was in the crops sub-sector, followed by livestock sub-sector (1,982 establishm­ents; 15.2%), fisheries sub-sector (1,320 establishm­ents; 10.2%), and forestry & logging sub-sector (669 establishm­ents; 5.2%).

In line with the increase in gross output, Mohd Uzir said intermedia­te input for agricultur­e sector rose by 4.3% annually to RM44.8 billion as compared to RM33.2 billion in 2015.

“The increment was driven by crops subsector with an annual growth rate of 5.9% (RM26.1 billion), followed by livestock subsector (RM14.2 billion; 5.1%) and fisheries subsector (RM1.7 billion; 1.6%),” he added.

Therefore, he said the total value added increased by 8.0% to RM77.6 billion in 2022 (2015: RM44.3 billion). Crops sub-sector with a share of 89.3% or equivalent to RM69.3 billion, was the prime mover in the country’s agricultur­e economy which registered an annual growth of 8.9% followed by livestock sub-sector with a share of 7.7% or RM6 billion and forestry and logging sub-sector, 1.9% or RM1.5 billion.

The number of persons engaged in the agricultur­e sector recorded a total of 518,130 persons in 2022 (2015: 567,476 persons), a decrease of 1.3%.

Representi­ng more than 80% of the overall persons engaged in agricultur­e sector in 2022, crops sub-sector registered a decrease of 1.3% with a total of 449,268 persons (2015: 490,947 persons).

The forestry and logging sub-sector contribute­d to the decrease, registerin­g a reduction of 8.3% (2022: 14,553 persons; 2015: 26,034 persons).

Meanwhile, livestock sub-sector recorded 38,200 persons with an annual growth of 1.3% (2015: 34,805 persons), followed by fisheries subsector of 16,109 persons with a growth rate of 0.4% (2015: 15,690 persons).

The total salaries and wages paid rose by 2.5% in the period amounting to RM9.5 billion in 2022 (2015: RM7.9 billion).

The highest increment was recorded by the livestock sub-sector at 4% to RM0.96 billion (2015: RM0.73 billion), followed by the fisheries sub-sector which increased by 3.7% to RM0.41 billion (2015: RM0.31 billion).

Commenting further on the agricultur­e sector performanc­e by states, Mohd Uzir said, “The three states that contribute­d the most to the national value added in 2022 were Sabah (24.5%), Sarawak (23.2%) and Johor (15.1%).

In terms of the annual growth rate, seven states registered higher increment than the national level which were W.P. Kuala Lumpur (22.2%), Sarawak (15.2%), Kelantan (14.9%), Terengganu (14.4%), Kedah (9.7%), Malacca (9.3%) and Selangor (8.9%)”.