Planters want more replanting grants from budget

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KUALA LUMPUR: It is crucial for the government to increase its rubber and palm oil replanting programme grants, says Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) Group president and chief executive officer Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah.

He said this was because the current allocation of RM297 million given under the Entry Point Projects (EPP) for replanting and new planting schemes, to be carried out by 2020, was only sufficient for about 15,000 hectares.

“It is estimated that Malaysia needs 200,000 hectares of land to be replanted.

“Therefore, the need to increase allocation is crucial,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Emir opined that to boost the rubber sector, the industry would need to be further diversified, with emphasis on high value-added and high technology rubber products, especially for engineering, construction and marine applications.

“The government should provide incentives for Malaysian rubber players to stimulate more efforts in research and development (R&D) for new product development and downstream activities, including the extraction of biochemical products from latex,” he said.

Mohd Emir said the government should also provide innovation grants to encourage R&D to improve oil production per hectare and enhance labour productivity (especially for harvesting) including new planting materials, mechanisation and others.

“Malaysia’s oil palm output growth is stagnant due to non-productive and low-yielding plantation areas.

“The government should accelerate replanting programmes by providing higher allocations,” he said.

On FGV’s wishlist for the upcoming Budget 2015, he said the government needs to expedite the biodiesel mandate implementation for B7.

“If crude palm oil (CPO) could be converted into biodiesel, it will reduce CPO stocks. However, the government has to ensure no further delays in the completion of blending facilities.

“Malaysia needs to compete with Indonesia in the world market for export of palm products. For Malaysia to compete, export tax exemption must be granted by the government.

“This in turn will assist to deplete stocks and improve prices for CPO. Moving forward, FGV expected the outlook for the first quarter of 2015 to be good, subject to biodiesel mandate implementation as planned and possibly, the extension of export tax exemption. — Bernama