Risda conducts training on Good Agricultural Practices throughout the year

0

Nanta (sixth left) in a group photo with the participants of Risda Sarawak GAP Convention at Kem Bina Negara.

Lim Ah Teck

William Kuwak

Ijah Kasa

KUCHING: The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) conducts training throughout the year to teach and coach rubber farmers to adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in order to help them increase their yield, income and improve their livelihood.

GAP are agricultural practices that apply a set of codes, standard and regulations, which have been studied and designed by experts, to improve productivity in quality and quantity besides minimising the risks and negative impacts on the environment. The emphasis on GAP was initiated since 2012 and covered four areas from cultivation and maintenance, fertilisation or protection, stimulation to tapping and harvesting.

The Ministry of Rural and Regional Development has allocated more than RM1.3 million this year to Risda Sarawak to implement Development and Guidance Service Programme, in which RM124,000 are utilised specifically for GAP Training Programme for all Risda plantation smallholders throughout Sarawak.

Risda has thus planned to implement 34,800 activities throughout the year in which some 8,700 plantation smallholders will benefit. Among the Risda participants, Lim Ah Tek has been awarded Tokoh GAP Risda Sarawak 2017 in recognition of his efforts and significant achievement.

Apart from him, three other participants namely Ali Rafaie, Dennis Terus and Musit Kabul were also awarded with Tokoh GAP Risda for Betong, Sibu and Miri division respectively.

Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi presented the certificates to the recipients during the GAP Convention, organised by Risda Sarawak, at Kem Bina Negara in Sampadi, Lundu here last Saturday.

Lim, 65, from Sri Aman, pointed out that managing and operating rubber plantation with GAP has helped farmers like him increase plantation productivity.

“I started to join Risda as a participant in 2011. Currently, there are 800 rubber trees planted on a 1.4545-hectare land, in which part of the batch have been tapped,” he said when met at the convention.

“Among the benefits of embedding GAP in rubber plantation is that it can speed up the growth of the trees in four and a half years compared to seven years normally,” he elaborated.

Lim is confident that his income can reach RM4,000 a month when all the rubber trees are tapped and harvested within this year. Implementing GAP, he added, also optimised the use of plantation land by growing crops like vegetables and fruits as well as fish farming. Lim looks forward to the setting-up of a centre to collect and buy back the raw rubber materials as the current practice is to sell to local traders or through middlemen or agents.

“If there is a collection centre where we can sell our rubber, we can cut off the middlemen and the loss,” he said.

Participant William Kuwak, 44, from Serian, who has been appointed Risda Community Developer (PMR), emphasised that Risda provided a wide range of assistance and support to help farmers make rubber planting a viable agriculture business.

PMR is an individual appointed among plantation smallholders to help the government realise development activities conducted by Risda particularly and the nation in general. They serve as the communicator or bridge between Risda and smallholders community especially in disseminating of information and getting feedback.

“I have been a Risda participant for three years now and currently, 800 rubber trees have been planted on a 1.054-hectare land,” he revealed.

“Even though it will still take quite a few years before the trees can be tapped and harvested, Risda participants like me can get assistance worth RM3,000 in the form of subsidy or fertiliser and other inputs needed to ensure productivity,” he said.

“Other than that, participants also can get Additional Economic Activity (AET) assistance to generate side income before we can see the yields,” he added.

With such strong support and resources available, William thus advised the local farmers especially with abandoned lands to apply and join Risda so they can develop their land for their future.

A woman participant, Ijah Kasa, 47, from Lubok Antu joined Risda programme in 2015 and today, she has over 1,000 rubber trees cultivated on a two-hectare land.

“We are provided with the hybrid rubber seedlings from Risda and coupled with knowledge and technique in cultivation and GAP that we have learnt, we anticipate to see better productivity when the trees have matured,” she said.

“On top of that, we have other types of support and assistance to help us generate side income to sustain and improve our livelihood,” she continued.

“However, I hope that an office can be set up in Lubok Antu. There are many farmers in my area who want to participate in Risda programme and we hope our needs can be heard but the nearest office we can access now is either in Sri Aman or Samarahan,” she added.

Nevertheless, Ijah hopes more of such courses and trainings can be conducted for rural farmers to promote the use of good agricultural practices and build their capacity that can lead to improving livelihoods of farmers.