Fahmi Abu Bakar of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, and Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Ahmad Hanis Izani Abdul Hadi told FMT the padi industry involves three main players – farmers, producers, and consumers.

They warned that doubling the floor price would lead to a chain reaction across all three stakeholders, including padi farmers.

“The ones who would be most affected immediately are the consumers. If the price of local white rice becomes expensive, they might opt for imported rice instead,” said Fahmi.

“That could lead to losses for farmers if producers shift their focus away from locally produced rice.”

Fahmi said raising the floor price would only be viable once the minimum wage reaches RM2,500 as that meant people’s purchasing power was stronger.

For now, he said, the government could absorb higher fertiliser and fuel costs that are affecting padi farmers.

Hanis said incentives to reduce production costs were a better measure. He suggested that the government float the ceiling price of local rice while giving out targeted subsidies for those in the B40 and M40 income groups.

On May 3, PN said it would fix the padi floor price at RM3,000 per tonne if given the mandate to form the government in the next nationwide polls. This will be part of its election manifesto.