Rural poverty in Peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian national agricultural policy

The National Agricultural Policy was implemented to arrest the decline that agriculture experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s. It aims to modernise and revitalise Malaysian agriculture and alleviate rural poverty while retaining labour in agriculture. This paper evaluates its likely effects on poverty among small‐scale padi farmers. The analysis is based on an evaluation of the strategies and programs that are being implemented as part of the policy. It is argued that the National Agricultural Policy will not alleviate poverty in the padi sub‐sector for three main reasons. Firstly, the strategies and programs currently being employed are essentially unchanged from those that were unsuccessfully employed in the past. Secondly, it is premised on a theoretical base which will not lead to the development of effective anti‐poverty strategies. And, finally, it is flawed by policy contradictions.