The population is approximately 20 million, with nearly half residing in the rapidly urban-izing areas. Indica varieties are most common. Rice is imported mainly from trading partners. There is increasingly more demand for high quality, fragrant rice. Rice remains the staple food although per capita consumption has dropped from 110 to 93 kg over the past 20 yr.
Wheat is consumed mainly as bread and pastries.
More than half of the rice area is planted to modern varieties. This trend is increasing. More riceland is simply abandoned and left idle, rather than used for other short-term food crops. The government has been encouraging cultivation of rice in large-scale farms to reduce costs and increase farmer incomes. The four main rice environments in Malaysia are classified as irrigated, partially irrigated, rainfed lowland, and upland.