Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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 Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities Malaysia (Commodities) (MOPIC)
 Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) under the Prime Minister Office
 Ministry of Rural & Regional Development (MRRD)
 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE)
Furthermore, an active National Statistics Council exists, of which its mandate is to cover: crop
and livestock statistics; forestry and environment statistics; aquaculture and fishery, water
resource and rural development statistics.
Institutional Set Up: The National Statistical System is decentralized to the sectorial level, but
it has a coordination authority. There is a formal allocation of responsibilities among various
agencies to produce agricultural statistics. There is also an active agricultural statistics
advisory committee that consists of a steering committee and technical committee just for
conducting agriculture census, economic census and supply utilization accounts on agriculture.
In Malaysia, several institutions play significant roles in the production, analyses, and
dissemination of agricultural statistics. The main institution is the MOA, mandated to
implement agricultural surveys and manage administrative records to compile agricultural
statistics. Within the MOA, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) is responsible for the
compilation of statistics at the national level on agricultural production, planted area,
harvested area, and yield per hectare for food crops. Under the umbrella of MOA, the
Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) is responsible for compiling statistics on livestock
production. Department of Fisheries (DOF) is the other department within the MOA that is in
charge of fisheries production, the number of fishermen and culturist statistics at the state
level.88
In Malaysia, palm oil, rubber, cocoa, pepper, and national kenaf and tobacco are the main
agricultural commodities that account for the most considerable exports. Therefore, under the
supervision of the Ministry of Plantations Industries and Commodities (MOPIC)89, the
following specialized boards were founded in order to produce separate statistics on
production, planted and harvested area.90
 Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) (for palm oil)
 Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) (for cocoa)
 Malaysia Pepper Board (MPB) (for pepper)
 National Kenaf and Tobacco Board (NKTB) (for kenaf and tobacco)
Another important partner of the agricultural statistics system is the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment (NRE) with Forestry Departments in three main states, Malaysian
Peninsular, Sabah, and Sarawak.91 These agencies are in charge of producing forestry and
logging statistics for their respective regions. The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development
Authority (RISDA), within the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, has the task of
88 MOA, 2014; DOA, 2014; DVS, 2014; DOF, 2014.
89 MOPIC, 2014.
90 It should be noted that as of 2014, tobacco statistics are no longer produced.
91 NRE, 2014; SFD, 2014; FRS, 2014.