Uggah (fourth left) joins (from left) Miro, Ranum, Dr Richard, Henry and others for a photo-call after having officiated at the opening of ‘Oil Palm Smallholders Open Day’ in Bau Civic Centre. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapha
BAU: Oil palm smallholders who are without land titles can now apply for workers for their operations – as per agreed upon by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem.
However, each smallholder must first obtain the licensing from Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and also the verification letter endorsed by local community leaders, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
According to him, Adenan had given the greenlight for the procedure of not having the land titles because he (chief minister) acknowledged that many Native Customary Rights (NCR) land across the state were still without titles.
“All you (oil palm smallholders in Sarawak) need to do is to get the verification letter endorsed by the community leaders and also the licence issued by MPOB,” Uggah said after having officiated at the opening of ‘Oil Palm Smallholders Open Day’ at the civic centre here yesterday.
The event, conducted by Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association (DOPPA) also hosted a seminar on finding ways to increase production and also addressing the problems faced by members of the association. Uggah, who is also Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy Minister, urged the smallholders to communicate with the ministry in case of them still having doubts about the matter.
According to him, the oil palm smallholders have been having trouble getting workers because the jobs are being shunned by locals. The problem was raised by DOPPA, which has about 400 members currently.
Uggah also urged the oil palm smallholders in the state to diversify their crops and also to be involved in livestock farming as means to address the price drop of the commodity.
It is learned that there are about 34,590 oil palm smallholders in the state covering 190,000 hectares of plantation – 1,000 hectares here, 8,000 hectares in Lundu, and 1,000 hectares in Sematan.
On DOPPA, Uggah hoped that the association would have its own collection centre and refinery plant to process crude palm oil (CPO) within the next 10 years.
He also called on DOPPA to engage itself in various supply chains across the oil palm industry like selling fertilizers so that it could benefit from the economy of scale.
He also proposed for DOPPA to set up a cooperative that would collect and sell the fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) to the mills; thus benefitting the smallholders directly.
In this regard, Uggah singled out the cooperative in Saratok as one that had been successful in helping the planters. Moreover, he said the government would continue to assist oil palm smallholders, adding that it had recently approved subsidy for oil palm replanting.
The open day was also attended by Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep, Opar assemblyman Dato Ranum Mina, Serumbu assemblyman Miro Simuh, and DOPPA president Dr Richard Mani Banda.