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Beef plays an important role in the Malaysian diet. However, Malaysia currently has a low self-sufficiency ratio for red meat, with imports of frozen Indian buffalo meat accounting for almost 80 percent of the market. Australia is the second largest beef supplier to Malaysia, with a market share of approximately 12 percent. Most Australian imports are utilised by the modern retail chains and middle to upper tier foodservice suppliers, where Australian beef is the meat of choice for most middle to high-income families. However, beef production in Western Australia faces numerous political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental challenges. This paper discusses the various constraints and outlines some of the actions that Western Australian beef producers are undertaking to meet community expectations and thereby assure the supply of both live cattle and chilled beef to consumers in Malaysia.

This article aims to shed the light about the important geographical factors that influence the localization of Peninsular Malaysia timber mills to further understand the employment of sustainable timber industry practice as well as proposing the general raw materials’ supply chain in Peninsular Malaysia timber industry. This study is performed by using secondary data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer land cover V6 MCD12Q1 data of NASA LPDAAC Collections from US Geological Survey and Malaysia Timber Industry Board for geographical factors as well as primary, secondary and tertiary timber mills’ information, respectively. The analysis from negative binomial regression analysis reveals that the geographical location for logs’ storage and transportation is affecting the primary timber mills’ localization, while a number of primary mills and secondary mills are affecting by the locations of raw materials’ supplies. This study gives an impactful insight for the Peninsular Malaysia timber industry in creating the timber industry’s policy regarding the roles of timber mills as the linkages in coordinating a sustainable timber industry.

Forests represent a substantial part of global socio-economy platforms. As the wood-based industry contributes large revenue to Malaysia’s economy, the readiness of Peninsular Malaysia towards sustainable wood-based industry was measured based on the different types of wood processing industries and Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) practice. Surveys (1,447) from all operating timber mills according to their raw materials type for wood products processing in Peninsular Malaysia were analyzed using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Results showed that the sustainable practice in wood industry by SFM practitioners and non-practitioners were similar. All industries are using outdated technologies and consume local raw materials in producing wood products. The furniture industry is largely aware of SFM and consumes the least amount of logs to produce furniture.

Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil, which, not unexpectedly, is one of the largest contributors to the country’s GDP. However, the Malaysian palm oil industry faces numerous issues, including a boycott for imports into the European Union (EU) on the basis that Malaysia does not allegedly practice good agriculture, fails to meet sustainability standards and exploits labor rights. To overcome the situation, the Government of Malaysia is strongly committed to implementing good agricultural practices that meet international sustainability standards through sustainable certification. To facilitate the adoption of sustainable certification by smallholder palm oil producers, through a comprehensive review of the literature, this study seeks to identify the social, environmental and economic benefits derived from sustainable certification.

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused the Malaysian Government to take steps to implement the Movement Control Order (MCO). According to Bank Negara Malaysia, the implementation of MCO will have an impact on national incomes, with Malaysia’s estimated economic growth in 2020. The effect of MCO not only affects the macro level, but also at the micro level, particularly those groups of households with the lowest income of 40%. (B40). The B40 income group is a group of households that are expected to face high economic risk and directly affect their patterns of consumption during the implementation of the MCO. This study contributes to the empiric study related to COVID-19 and the implementation of MCO in the B40 group. This study analysed the pattern of financial and consumption of B40 households in Malaysia during the implementation of MCO. The findings show that the financial situation of the B40 household has changed the patterns of daily consumption following the implementation of the MCO.

The two horrible conditions ahead of time than the organizers worldwide are to diminish the stack at the conventional fills and to reduce the continually developing basic spoiling. This test is proposed to discover probably the execution of the DI diesel motor at various loads when fuelled with mixes of palm methyl esters and diesel. The primers have been pushed on a completely utilized diesel motor without changes. Every one of the appraisals were consistent usa of america and outfitted toward dependable pace. The impact of moving weight develop to be assessed the volume that brake warm temperature ability, mass flow rate, brake one of a kind gas use and fumes gas temperature. Exploratory impacts show that at complete weight conditions, the B-20, B-40and B-60 mixes bring 33.23%, 32.81%, 32.39% and 31.ninety seven% higher brake heat usefulness than sole diesel freely. It wound up confirmed that the brake warmth ability of palm biodiesel is higher than that of diesel, and it is a delayed consequence of the oxygenated atom of biodiesel which acknowledges total ingesting of the biodiesel fuel. In addition the mass development rate of biodiesel is evidently superior to anything that of diesel fuel; it is through method for exact capacity of the calorific estimation of biodiesel is a ton parcels less appeared in one another way as far as diesel gas. At the reason for results obtained from this test utilizing palm biodiesel as a fuel is proposed for the utilized as a piece of a diesel motor with diesel mixes

This paper aims to examine the effect of macroeconomic condition on microcredit coverage in Malaysia. The Microcredit Organizations (MO) was established to complement the mainstream financial institutions but challenges remain with microcredit performances associated with microcredit coverage. The paper accordingly investigates the effects of macroeconomic condition on microcredit coverage in the Malaysian context. To achieve the objective, the static panel data technique is adopted, which comprises 13 states and three Federal Territories in the country, spanning 2011 to 2015. The findings reveal the resiliency of MO towards macroeconomic conditions in Malaysia. The increase in the inflation rate and agriculture GDP (LNAGDP) share shows significant negative and positive effects (non-resilient) on microcredit coverage. The main findings will assist in addressing the newly identified macroeconomic condition to improve on micro credit performance. Policy implications emanating from the study are expected to be relevant to the government, MOs and borrowers. The government accordingly can make important contributions to borrowers by maintaining macroeconomic stability (inflation and LNAGDP share) through appropriate policies in order to achieve good microcredit coverage. MOs may revisit the existing quality regulation (MOs risk weighing loan disbursement) based on the macroeconomic condition which, in turn, can be used in outreaching more microcredit borrowers. Finally, this study may also help to elucidate specific understanding of the government and MO objectives in outreaching microcredit borrowers. Keywords: microcredit coverage, macroeconomic condition, microcredit organisation, Malaysia

Extensive non-engineered landfilling practice in developing countries has raised environmental concerns, but operating a sanitary landfill appears infeasible due to financial incapability. This study aims to determine the feasibility of a sanitary landfill project by including its environmental values into the project appraisal while simultaneously applying three policy-relevant methods—non-market valuation, benefits transfer, and cost-benefit analysis—in two study areas in Peninsular Malaysia. The non-market valuation study used choice modeling, a questionnaire-based technique, to elicit willingness to pay among 624 households toward the environmental attributes of the sanitary landfill. Their responses resulted in the monetary values of the environmental attributes by referring to implicit prices of leachate discharge, bad odor, disease vector and view. The implicit prices of bad odor (RM2.29 per month) and view (RM3.59 per month) in the two study areas were transferable and used as a proxy of additional solid waste disposal payment in environmental cost-benefit analysis. Positive net present value offers empirical evidence of the feasibility of the sanitary landfill project. The findings show that the inclusion of environmental values in project appraisals increases the chances of implementing sanitary landfills, providing a new approach to address the environmental concerns in developing countries. Future research should consider the external costs along with the external benefits to allow for a comprehensive comparison between environmental values in environmental cost-benefit analysis.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the quality cues that consumers look for in purchasing fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables in Malaysia. Through a perceived quality model, this paper identifies the implicit, intrinsic, extrinsic and credence quality cues consumers’ use in their decision to purchase fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilised the shopping mall intercept survey method. Data were collected from traditional markets and modern retail outlets in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia. A structured questionnaire was designed to measure consumer’s perceptions and experiences of food quality when purchasing fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables from retail outlets. In this study, univariate data analysis (descriptive analysis, one-way analysis of variance) and exploratory factor analysis were performed to analyse the data sets. Findings – Freshness (intrinsic cue), was the most frequently cited variable when respondents thought about the quality of both product categories. Other variables included price and cleanliness (extrinsic cues) and Halal (credence cue), which was associated with the quality of fresh meat. Quality was associated with freshness, food safety, nutrition and value. Exploratory factor analysis identified food safety (implicit cue) as the most important construct in the respondents’ evaluation of quality for both fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables. Originality/value – There is a paucity of research focusing on consumer’s perceptions and experiences of food quality in the purchase of fresh meat and fresh produce in Malaysia. The findings of this research may assist the Malaysian food industry by providing new insights into the consumers’ perceptions of food quality.

In the contemporary discourse, it is argued that the ultimate objective of rural development is to improve the quality of life for rural people. This makes it essential to go beyond the incomerelated factors of rural development. Inclusive Rural Development, a more specific concept than the concept of conventional rural development, accommodates the variables for the quality of life in rural development. This concept covers three different but interrelated dimensions: economic dimension, social dimension and political dimension. Rural Transformation Centre (RTC), implemented by the government of Malaysia, is among the third generation of the rural development programmes in the country. RTC is a site to implement some integrated initiatives for the rural communities within 100 kilometre radius of the sites. There are eight major initiatives under the RTC implementation programmes, which are: training of rural population; setting up of 1Malaysia information kiosks; high-value agriculture initiatives; agro-food products processing; agricultural produce supply chain management; university cooperation; food safety and pharmaceuticals services; and rural population financial facilities. RTC brings a unique opportunity for members of the rural communities to benefit from a myriad of initiatives and activities related to their livelihood and wellbeing within the same premises. Despite some challenges, this programme has enormous potentials to address many important aspects of rural development. Based on review of relevant literature and field visits, this paper attempts to examine the prospects of the RTC concept of Malaysia in light of the theory of Inclusive Rural Development. The findings of this paper will help relevant governmental and nongovernmental bodies and researchers gain an insight about the potentials and challenges of RTC for further improving the quality of life for the rural communities.

It is universal that central to all production is consumption. Without proper management, production along with consumption is likely to be the main sources of environmental problems. This very reality calls for consumers to be environmentally responsible in their consumption behavior. The objective of this paper is to prepare a synthesis of all the possible factors and measurement scale items to be used for assessing consumers’ environmental responsibility. For making such synthesis, all major works done on the field have been thoroughly reviewed. The paper comes up with a total of six parameters that include knowledge & awareness, attitude, green consumer value, emotional affinity toward nature, willingness to act and environment related past behavior. These tentative, yet inclusive set of parameters are thought to be useful for guiding the designing of large scale future empirical researches for developing a dependable inclusive set of parameters to test consumer’ environmental responsibility. A conceptual model and possible measurement items are proposed for further empirical research.

The term “eco-labeling” has become a buzzword in today’s sustainable business world. The use of eco-labeling in various forms has been increasing notably for past many years, sometimes as an environmental “requirement” and sometimes merely as a marketing tool. Questions arise about how well these eco-labels are attended and understood by consumers. However, though mentionable studies are found on various aspects of eco-labels, gaps exist in exploring an inclusive set of parameters for investigating consumer perceptions of eco-labels. This paper aims at preparing a synthesis of all the possible factors to be incorporated for measuring consumer perceptions of eco-labeling of products. For making such synthesis, all major works in the field have been thoroughly reviewed. The paper comes up with a total of 10 parameters that include consumer awareness, consumer knowledge, consumer involvement, consumer trust, design and visibility, credibility of the source, type and level of information, clarity of meaning, persuasiveness, and private benefits. This tentative, yet inclusive, set of parameters is thought to be useful for designing large scale future empirical researches for developing a dependable inclusive set of parameters to test consumer understanding and perceptions of eco-label. A framework is proposed for further empirical research.

This paper was designed to explore the influence of energy labelling toward the consumer purchasing behaviour. Based on information from a total of 117 samples, this paper finds mean correlations between consumers’ awareness, knowledge, attitude, social norm and energy efficiency labels with purchase intention. Energy labelling shows a negative correlation with green purchasing behaviour. This finding demonstrates that energy labelling was fruitless to deliver a good message in encouraging consumer buying decision. Energy labels have to be understood, trusted and valued as a tool for consumers’ decision making. It is believed that the use of energy labels alone is not considered enough to protect the environment. Thus, all the stakeholders should enhance some other factors as a complementary to the energy labelling programs.

Differences in retail store choice behaviour are examined for the purchase of fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables in Malaysia. In purchasing fresh meat, cluster analysis identified two groups of respondents who purchased the majority of the fresh meat they consumed from either modern retail stores or the traditional market. However, with regard to the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables, cluster analysis identified three groups of respondents (modern retail shoppers, transient shoppers and traditional market shoppers). Although the clusters were labelled using similar terms, several similarities and differences were identified in the respective clusters for each food item. The findings indicate that store choice preference was based on the food product that the consumer intended to purchase.

This study utilizes the Total Food Quality Model to gain a better understanding of how Malaysian consumers make their decision to purchase fresh/chilled meat. We examine the association between quality cues and desired values (quality attributes) with regard to food that is guaranteed Halal, safe to eat, healthy and nutritious, has a good taste, represents good value for money, and is produced in a way that protects the environment and worker welfare. The findings reveal that different quality cues assume different levels of importance when pursuing different desired values.

Consumers’ preferences and the decision to purchase fresh produce from a retail store are based on a variety of quality cues. In the quality perception process, quality cues are associated with desired quality attributes (values). Malaysian consumers in the Klang Valley most often associate the appearance of the fresh produce (freshness, colour and firmness) with good taste. Fresh fruit and vegetables without any chemical residues, freedom from pests and diseases, and the origin of the produce were suggested as having a strong correlation with food safety and a beneficial impact on the environment and worker welfare. However, the quality cues utilised by consumers to associate fresh fruit and vegetables that taste good, that are safe, and produced in a way that is good for the environment and worker welfare varies significantly between each desired value.

At the consumer level, household buyers consistently report that the two most dominant factors that impact upon their decision to purchase fresh produce in a retail store is the competitive price and quality. Quality however is a multi-faceted variable that considers not only the extrinsic quality attributes (freshness, colour, size and shape), but also the intrinsic quality attributes (taste, flavour, texture and mouth feel), the credence attributes (method of production, fair trade and sustainable production) and the service quality attributes that are associated with the shopping experience itself (customer advice, ambience, convenience, credit facilities, etc.).

This chapter seeks to compare and contrast the purchase of fresh meat between modern retail stores and traditional markets in both Malaysia and Indonesia. In-depth focus group discussions with the main food shoppers in the household reveal that the halal status is the most influential criterion in store choice for fresh chicken meat. Other important criteria include freshness, quality, a competitive price, convenience, an on-going relationship with the retailer, the variety available, and a pleasant shopping environment.

The term “eco-labeling” has become a buzzword in today’s sustainable business world. The use of eco-labeling in various forms has been increasing notably for past many years, sometimes as an environmental “requirement” and sometimes merely as a marketing tool. Questions arise about how well these eco-labels are attended and understood by consumers. However, though mentionable studies are found on various aspects of eco-labels, gaps exist in exploring an inclusive set of parameters for investigating consumer perceptions of eco-labels. This paper aims at preparing a synthesis of all the possible factors to be incorporated for measuring consumer perceptions of eco-labeling of products. For making such synthesis, all major works in the field have been thoroughly reviewed. The paper comes up with a total of 10 parameters that include consumer awareness, consumer knowledge, consumer involvement, consumer trust, design and visibility, credibility of the source, type and level of information, clarity of meaning, persuasiveness, and private benefits. This tentative, yet inclusive, set of parameters is thought to be useful for designing large scale future empirical researches for developing a dependable inclusive set of parameters to test consumer understanding and perceptions of eco-label. A framework is proposed for further empirical research.

This paper aims to develop and propose an all-inclusive framework for assessing consumers’ environmental responsibility and understanding of eco-labels. One of the preparatory issues regarding green marketing is to understand consumers’ environmental concerns and to take action accordingly. Another operational vehicle for green marketing is the use of eco-labels. Although some studies ‘criticised’ these two vital issues, no study has so far been found to be comprehensive theoretically and methodologically and sound in content. Yet the government of Malaysia and other organisations are undertaking various initiatives in order to ‘green’ the economy. The number of eco-labels is also increasing. Apparently uncovering consumers’ environmental concerns and their understanding and perception of eco-labels are called for. The proposed framework incorporates six constructs for measuring consumers’ environmental responsibility and ten constructs for assessing consumers’ understanding of eco-labels. This study is exploratory in nature in that it relies solely on surveying available published literature.

Global warming and climate change have become emerging issues for marketing to promote ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Past studies investigated the role of general environmental knowledge in attitude-behavior relationship of pro-environmental consumer behavior. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as a guiding framework, this study takes a fresh look at attitude-behavior relationship that integrates both general environmental knowledge and knowledge of eco-labels in the model to investigate their role in predicting ecologically conscious consumer behavior. The study finds that both general environmental knowledge and eco-label knowledge positively influence consumer attitudes towards environment in driving ecologically conscious consumer behavior. The findings suggest that marketing strategy, specifically communication strategy, needs to focus on educating consumers about issue-specific environmental knowledge (e.g., eco-label knowledge) along with general environmental knowledge. Further research should integrate more issue-specific dimensions to investigate pro-environmental consumer behavior.

After the price spike of 1974 the real price of food commodities continued to decline approximately at an average rate of 1 percent till 1999. But from the very beginning of twenty first century the world food price began to rise upward with high degrees of volatility both in nominal and real term. World Bank Global Food Price Index increased at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent between 2000 and 2012. Of this period since 2006 volatility has increased dramatically. Although projection based on historical data do not indicate actual shortage of major grains, but extreme global weather events due to climate change, will pose high harvest variation, which leaves fundamental food security risks for consumers and governments. This paper tries to focus on the cause and effects of the food price volatility in the way of summative content analysis of the existing literature and data available from World Bank and United Nation Food and Agricultural Organization. This paper also focus on possible ways to tackle the food price volatility in poor and developing countries as the people of these countries are the most vulnerable to unpredictable price spike.