IN politics as in everything, confidence and trust matter a great deal. Hajiji has specially selected Jamawi, who has been a DUN previously, to the very important Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery, Food Industries. His appointment speaks for itself. His first full ministerial appointment from Hajiji was to the important MAFFI.
MAFFI is a major ministry, very critical ministry. In Jamawi’s hand is the fate of Sabah’s existential survival, in his hands is the prospects of better lives for hundreds of thousands of small farmers, fishermen and their families, in his hands is the potential for Sabah to contain or better still, to reduce inflation.
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In his hands is Sabah’s food sufficiency and most critical food security. And in his hands is the prospects of agricultural industrializations and export of high value crop. These will benefit all Sabahans, especially those in B40.
In Jamawi’s hands, Hajiji and Masidi have entrusted not less than 10% of Sabah’s total budget, a massive sum of MR559.85 million for food security only!
WHY HAJIJI HAS APPOINTED JAMAWI AS MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.
There are 2 parts to this.
The first is Sabah’s 40-year-old perennial economic and social problems in relationship to agriculture.
Harris gave Sabah the best ever development in agriculture. Harris’ love for agriculture is legendary to this day. He built an extensive network of rural roads so that farmers have access, created KPD [Rural Development Corporation], introduced crops and tree plantings [acacia] which has kept the economy of northern part of Sabah going to this day.
He persuaded the Australian Government to allow Sabah to buy 2 cattle ranches in Australia. The first ever foreign government was allowed to buy farm lands. Sarawak and Brunei followed him.
The 2 cattle ranches were sold by MBO [Management Buy Out] the details of which should be made public. Worse of all, the 963,000 acres of land which Harris had wanted to distribute to each landless Sabahan families were sold to Malaya companies. Hence, 90% of Sabah oil palm is owned by outsider, with minimal downstream and employment for Sabahans.
The realities were:
[1] Sabah has the best land, the best climate for agriculture. Sabah has also the worst rural poverty. Plus, oil and gas! Things are seriously wrong! Inexecutable, unforgiveable.
[2] Sabah has lost control of ownership in agriculture especially oil palm which has swallowed up more than 1.7 million hectares of Sabah’s best land.
[3] Sabah’s agriculture has created many Malayan billionaires!
[4] Sabah has a very precarious food security position. We import most of our rice from Vietnam and Thailand, corn from Argentina, beef from India, and wagyu from Australia and Japan, pork from Sweden and many types of fruits, like pears, from as far as South Africa. More than 90% of food items in super markets are imported.
Take this seriously. Sabah has only 22% in rice and 2% in corn self-sufficiency. Who or from where we are going to get these if there is a war in the South China Sea.
Sabah’s legacy problems in agriculture are massive, have grave existential implications. These problems are no less severe than those in infrastructures.
This is the context in which Hajiji has appointed Jamawi as MAFFI minister. He has a very tough job but he is tackling it head-on and doing well.
The second part is Jamawi’s personality and work culture.
Jamawi is fully immersed in agriculture. He talks agriculture, breaths agriculture and most probably dreams agriculture in his sleep. He is a 24-hour agriculture man. He is a workaholic in agriculture.
He certainly has hit the ground running with a level of intensity that suggests “rest” isn’t on his mind. It’s one thing to hold the portfolio, but it’s another to be out in Ranau personally supervising durian grafting.
Jamawi certainly knows his stuff. He has discarded protocol, conducted surprise checks on his senior officials and above all, has reached out to individual farmers in the way they understand. He even knows the number of fruits from each avocado tree and its revenue.
For the first time in MAFFI, there is a minister who knows more the agriculture economics and best practices than his senior officials.
WHAT HAS JAMAWI DONE FOR SABAH SINCE BECOMING MAFFI MINISTER?
Like a world class athlete, Jamawi has hit the ground and speed-run since Hajiji’s has appointed him as MAFFI minister.
Jamawi has approached the MAFFI portfolio with an aggressive, “hands-on” corporate style since taking office. His actions, on the macro level, have been defined by a focus on commercialization and import substitution, moving away from traditional subsistence models. At the micro level, he has reached out to small farmers with his agriculture skill supplemented by financial and economic reasonings that they can understand.
Here are some of my major moves of Jamawi since Hajiji has appointed him MAFFI minister:
[1] Resetting Financial & Structural Foundation for Sabah’s agriculture.
Jamawi has successfully aligned state priorities with federal funding to secure the resources needed for a rapid overhaul: Massive 2026 Budget: Secured a RM559.85 million allocation for MAFFI to drive the Sabah Maju Jaya [SMJ] 2.0 food security agenda.
Corn sufficiency:
Jamawi has secured an additional RM25 million specifically from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security [KPKM] for corn projects and was appointed the coordinator for the National Agriculture and Food Empowerment Programme [PPAN] in Sabah. Corn has critical economic implications for Sabah. Sabah imports 98%, most of which is for animal feeds from Argentina, some 16,000 km to 17,000 km away. Imagine the expensive shipping cost in every kilo of chicken, beef, pork from our pockets.
Dramatic improvements for Sabahans when Jamawi has succeeded in corn sufficiency, especially in containing inflation.
[2] The Jamawi’s “Padi Revolution” and food sufficiency:
Current self-sufficiency is 22%. To hit the 60% Self-Sufficiency Level by 2030, Jamawi has pivoted to heavy mechanization:
RM15 Million Machinery Push:
He allocated funds specifically for the Sabah Padi and Rice Board [LPBS] to buy modern harvesting and ploughing machines, reducing the labour burden on aging farmers.
Stockpile Security:
Following supply concerns in early 2026, he mandated a 6-month minimum rice reserve and personally, oversaw the monitoring of 36,000 tonnes of stockpiles to prevent price manipulation and smuggling.
Regional Focus:
He will focus on reactivating idle padi fields in Kota Belud, Tambunan, and Keningau under a “mini estate” management model.
[3] The Sabah Durian Industry Board
This is an exciting proposal with great potentials. Sabah has the potential to become a major producer in durians. Jamawi’s proposed board is a strategic attempt to turn “kampong durian” into a high value export. This he has already started in Ranau with the promotion of matured grafting of high value clones of MSK and Black Thorn
The No-Cess Policy:
He notably proposed that the board operate without charging “cess”[taxes] on farmers, focusing instead on technical support.
JAMAWI’S MANY CHALLENGES.
As I have said, the problems in agriculture are massive and decades old. Here are some of them:
[1] Sabah has been short changed by the plantation companies from Malaya.
Sabah has received little benefit for devoting more than 1.7 million hectares of the best land and got pretty little return for it. Land assessment has not been reviewed for 60 years.
[2] Sabah has more than 230,000 NTs most of which is unutilized or under-cultivated. Most have no access. Making these NTs productive will require massive land re-organisations. Politically, legally sociologically very complex.
[3] Agriculture is under Sabah’s state list in the constitution. But we don’t have an Agriculture Enactment.
[4] Sabah produces nominal fertilizers. Fertilizers are the largest inputs, with between 40% to 60% of the cost. The present geopolitical chaos has sent prices of fertilizers sky-rocketing.
[5] Marketing, logistics and cold storage [for export] will be require massive efforts and considerable financing.
[6] Sabah must export agriculture as our domestic market is too small.
That said, Jamawi’s love for agriculture, his boundless energy, abundant ingenuities and a knack to inspire farmers, will transform Sabah’s agriculture into a major export industry, transformation to better lives for countless poor farmers. Most importantly, Sabahans, for the very first time, can relax in the comfort of food security.
Sort out Sabah’s agriculture and transforming it into a major economic sector for Sabah is the best policy under “Sabah for Sabahans”.
The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: Forum@dailyexpress.com.my
