Several hundred metric tonnes of FFB have been dumped at the collection centre.
FFB are seen dumped at the collection centre’s front office door.
MIRI: A palm oil mill in Trusan, Lawas, has refused to accept the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of hundreds of smallholders since Friday.
A spokesperson for the division’s sole FFB collection centre told thesundaypost that the mill’s sudden refusal has cost the smallholders a great loss of income.
“On Friday morning, our daily schedule involved the smallholders bringing their FFB to our centre, and we bought the FFB from them using cash. Thereafter, we transferred the FFB to the palm oil mill. We were caught by surprise when the mill rejected our FFB,” she said via telephone yesterday.
“For your information, the FFB must be delivered to the mill within 24 hours to obtain the maximum oil extraction rate (OER). We were left confused and frustrated by the mill’s rejection but to avoid more loss, we had to put up a notice to immediately inform the smallholders of the situation.”
She said some smallholders were unable to accept the collection centre’s explanation and showed their dissatisfaction by dumping their FFB on the centre’s weighing bridge and at the office’s front door.
“To avoid further unforeseen circumstances, we lodged a police report,” said the spokesperson.
The collection centre is now flooded with several hundred metric tonnes of FFB.
“Smallholders depend very much on the sales of FFB. They would be devastated if the mill does this in the long term,” she said adding that currently the collection centre has already lost over RM200,000.
The spokesperson added that the mill has also failed to reveal how long it would reject FFB from the smallholders.
“We have operated for more than a decade, and we have never before encountered such a situation. Thus, being the only palm oil mill in Lawas, they have the responsibility to tell the smallholders of any changes.
“The situation is very frustrating because the longer the situation goes on like this, the collection centre and the 300 smallholders could face financial difficulties.”