- Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to propose a crop seed quality bill in 2026, which is said to protect farmers’ interests, preventing them from incurring loss from low-quality seeds or fake seeds. But critics say they think it could criminalize farmers’ seed-sharing practices.
- Fake seeds have been reported in the news; preventing farmers from planting fake seeds is important, especially for perennial crops, which can take years for farmers to realize the seeds they purchased and planted are not of the variety they had intended.
- Farmers’ groups and NGOs are demanding transparency and inclusivity in the government’s lawmaking process.
- This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian laws that would affect seeds and the farmers who use them.
This is Part 2 of a two-part series on proposed changes to Malaysia’s seed laws. Part 1 published Sept. 29 here.
In a farmland surrounded by oil palm and rubber plantations in Perak, in northwestern Malaysia, a coconut sapling lies on the ground. Its young leaves stand upright and are still fused. Farmer Mohd Naim Razak kneels beside it and checks the leaves. “It’s not stable yet,” he says. A healthy sapling should be spreading its fronds, like the others in his farm.
It is a pandan coconut sapling. If it adapts well to his farm, it will start bearing fruit in three years. The juice from a pandan coconut (Cocos nucifera) is known for its sweet fragrance, resembling that of pandan, a fragrant plant commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine. Mohd Naim also plans to sell coconut seeds in the future.
He says farmers can’t work without seeds. “Seeds are farmers’ important assets.” So, for him, farmers have to appreciate, conserve, save and take care of seeds. “We must also know that we have to control [seeds] ourselves,” he says.
But while Mohd Naim works on his farm, a new challenge looms: Malaysia is set to propose a new law that could contradict his belief in farmers’ responsibility and rights over seeds. This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian seed laws that have small-scale farmers concerned about their rights.
In 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to propose a crop seed quality bill to regulate the seed industry. While the agriculture and food security minister, Mohamad Sabu, says the bill will protect farmers, some farmers remain unsure about it and demand transparency and inclusivity in the consultation process.
What’s in the bill
Since 2021, the Malaysian Food Sovereignty Forum (FKMM), a coalition of farmers, fishers, breeders, academics and professionals, has been asking for public consultation and for the bill text to be released in full.
However, like a proposed amendment to the Protection of New Plant Varieties (PNPV) Act that governs breeders’ rights — the other seed law in the news — the text of the seed quality bill is not publicly available. Mohd Naim tells Mongabay that they are relying on information from a government’s briefing in 2019.
According to the National Agrofood Policy, Malaysia plans to speed up new plant variety development to grow its seeds industry. In line with that, the government is expected to propose amendments to its PNPV Act to join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an intergovernmental organization that promotes a system to protect plant breeders’ rights to encourage new plant variety development.
To regulate the seed industry, a crop seed quality bill is also expected to surface in the Parliament next year. In fact, a crop seed quality act was reportedly intended when Malaysia established its National Seed Council in 2011 to develop its seed industry.
On Aug. 25, Mohd Naim, together with members of the FKMM, went to Malaysia’s Parliament, about 140 kilometers (87 miles) away from his farm, and submitted a memorandum to its members. FKMM deems the crop seed quality bill an “overkill,” as the group expects it could make licensing mandatory for anyone who keeps, processes and distributes crop seeds. They say it could become a tool to control farmers’ informal seed system, restrict farmers’ traditional right to freely share and sell seeds and increase big seed corporations’ market control.
On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture says in an email to Mongabay that the bill aims to ensure seed quality, protect farmers against fake seeds and “support the development of a more transparent, organized and competitive local seed industry, by ensuring that the industry operates fairly without the control of certain parties.” It adds that the bill is still under study.
Existing seed quality certification
Currently, seed producers can voluntarily apply to join the Crop Seeds Certification Scheme (SPBT) and the Paddy Seeds Certification Scheme to certify their seeds. According to the agriculture department’s website, under the SPBT, the department audits participating seed producers’ premises (e.g., farms, processing and storage facilities), parent plants and seed production processes. It is to ensure that seeds produced are authentic according to the plant variety the producers have declared, and that the seeds’ purity (percentage mix with other materials or seeds, like weeds), moisture and germination rates meet standards.
As of 2023, the agriculture department has listed 20 types of fruits, of which seeds can be certified under SPBT, including coconut, durian and bananas.
Additionally, the agriculture department has a Paddy Seeds Certification Scheme, a system that specifically certifies paddy seeds to produce the country’s main staple food: rice. According to the agriculture department’s website, this scheme is only provided for government-appointed paddy seed producers.
The agriculture department tells Mongabay these schemes will remain voluntary while the bills are being finalized.
Back in Mohd Naim’s coconut farm, he says the current SPBT is good — he feels more confident to buy seeds from nurseries with SPBT certificates. But, he says, the scheme should remain voluntary and it should be strengthened to ensure sellers do not misuse the certificate to manipulate buyers.
Mohd Naim says when he was looking for pandan coconut saplings to start his farm last year, a nursery operator asked for a price more than 60% higher than usual. The nursery operator told him it was because their seeds had SPBT certs. “Imagine, later, with UPOV, with the seed bill, how much will the seeds cost?” he says.
In the end, he bought his saplings from the agriculture department’s nursery.
Fake seed concerns
For Mohd Naim, it’s crucial to get genuine coconut saplings right from the start. A coconut plant will only start flowering when it reaches 3 years old. Then, it takes another seven months for the flowers to grow into coconuts that can be harvested for coconut water.
To verify his saplings are genuine pandan coconuts, instead of any other coconut varieties, Mohd Naim uses a simple method: lightly heating the leaves or tearing the root to release their pandan fragrance.
But he says it’s not as easy to differentiate between other coconut varieties. So, a farmer might only know a sapling’s real variety after it grows up. If they planted a variety they didn’t intend to, he says, “It’s a loss to have waited for 3-4 years!”
Over the past eight years, sales of fake seeds involving coconut, paddy and oil palm have been reported in the news.
Universiti Putra Malaysia’s agricultural economics professor Shaufique Fahmi Ahmad Sidique says in WhatsApp messages that fake seeds are prevalent in the coconut and oil palm industries, from what he has learned from farmers he has interacted with.
“Some oil palm smallholders told me they just use seeds from loose fruits [palm fruits that fell off the bunches in plantations] (this is completely wrong). Some will find the cheapest seedlings which are very much likely counterfeit,” he writes.
However, he says, farmers usually find out the seeds they bought are fake as the plants grow and as they realize their lower crop yields. And farmers using seeds from loose fruits might also face the same problem. “Imagine not planting it right. The trees will be there 20 years or more,” he adds.
In a separate video call with Mongabay, Shaufique Fahmi says that preventing farmers from buying fake seeds is especially important for perennial crops, such as coconuts.
He says if the market is regulated and if the seeds in the market are all certified, sold by legitimate producers, it will create an environment conducive to genuine seed producers. “And you’re going to get enough people so that it’s going to be competitive. When it’s competitive, nobody can take advantage of anyone,” he says.
The agriculture department tells Mongabay in an email that the crop seed quality bill is “being refined by focusing on the protection of farmers’ rights, seed quality assurance and the development of the country’s seed industry. This drafting is based on the principles of inclusiveness, transparency and compatibility with current policy so that it can be implemented effectively and provide real benefits to farmers and the country’s agricultural sector.”
Yet Mohd Naim speculates that the crop seed quality bill may suit large farms with “hundreds of acres” of land, but not small farmers like him. He says small farmers often exchange and sell seeds within their community. “If we buy [seeds] from someone we know, we know the seeds,” he adds. He can ask the seller when the seeds were harvested, what the harvest was like, and he can get advice about the planting process. However, he won’t know the seeds’ history if he buys them from a seed shop.
Open information and inclusive consultation
In July, Minister Mohamad Sabu was reported saying, “Although some farmers have raised concerns over this seed law, rest assured that the changes are not meant to pressure them, but rather to protect and safeguard their interests, in line with the ministry’s ongoing efforts.”
FKMM coordinator NurFitri Amir says they have met with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security a few times since 2019, but “these meetings were more of a briefing and many questions raised remained unanswered,” according to FKMM’s press statement in July.
Mohd Naim tells Mongabay they are not against preventing fake seeds and diseases, but they demand transparency and inclusivity. “Please tell us. Show us the information and data. So that we can each understand and ask questions,” Mohd Naim says.
In the memorandum submitted to members of Parliament, FKMM urged the Malaysian government to uphold farmers’ rights as stated in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which Malaysia acceded to in 2004. That includes the right to participate in making decisions regarding the use of seeds at the national level. ITPGRFA is legally binding.
Regarding the farmers and NGOs’ demand for transparency and inclusivity in the lawmaking process, the agriculture department writes to Mongabay that it always conducts targeted engagement sessions to clarify the principles and main directions of the amendments. It takes into account farmers’ and other stakeholders’ feedback, “particularly in relation to the protection of farmers’ rights, food security and national food sovereignty.”
In a public park next to the Parliament, Mohd Naim organised an independent farmers’ mini carnival on a Sunday morning in August. There, farmers and NGOs distributed free seeds or plant cuttings, sold tree saplings and food made from their farm harvest. Paddy farmers even brought a small rice mill from home, showing children and adults how golden grains are turned into white rice.
Besides that, FKMM has also been organizing seed-sharing sessions in a few states to raise public awareness about their concerns. They also manage an online community seed inventory to record who has what seeds and to encourage seed-sharing.
At the heart of the debate is the question: Who controls the seeds?
NurFitri Amir tells Mongabay, “I hope our country’s agriculture industry will become more diverse. It should not focus on one point of view only; that is, the industrial agriculture.”
He says food security is defined from a consumer perspective — food that is available, accessible and affordable. “But we don’t realize, to come to these three points, sometimes or most of the time, we undermine farmers’ livelihood. We undermine farmers’ rights,” he says.
As Malaysia moves closer to transforming its seed system, which is essential for crop farming, the question remains: Can it protect innovation and advance its economy without sacrificing the rights and livelihoods of its farmers?
Banner image: Paddy farmer Azhar Hashim refills paddy grains into a miller at an independent farmers’ mini carnival. Image by Lee Kwai Han.
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This story first appeared on Mongabay
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