RANAU: Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, the Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities launched the Oil Palm Smallholders Replanting and New Planting Schemes, one of eight Entry Point Projects (EPPs) under the Palm Oil National Key Economic Area (NKEA) here yesterday.
In its press statement, it said the replanting scheme was to help independent smallholders to replant old and unproductive trees for planted area sizes below 40 hectares (ha).
Under this scheme, RM7,000 per ha would be provided for land clearing, supply of high-quality seedlings and agricultural input. In addition, smallholders with land size below 2.5 ha would receive Farm Maintenance Assistance of RM500 per month for two years.
This was to assist smallholders while waiting for production of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs).
However, in the case of new planting schemes, application was to open to independent smallholders in Peninsular Malaysia with land area of five ha and below.
For Sabah and Sarawak, application was open to smallholders with land area of seven ha and below. Nevertheless, assistance under this scheme was limited up to five ha.
“There is a total of 449,415 ha of non-productive and low-yield plantation areas, which required replanting. Out of this amount, 109,083 ha belong to independent smallholders,” Dompok said.
Moreover, the replanting of oil palm trees of above 25 years with high-quality seedlings and compliance to Good Agriculture Practices was an important step to increase the productivity of estates and smallholders.
Dompok also urged smallholders to seek advice on oil palm planting and comply with the Good Agricultural Practices to ensure high and quality yields in the long term.
In this regard, quality seedlings could be sourced from oil palm nurseries certified with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s (MPOB) Oil Palm Nursery Certificate of Competency.
Both schemes would be implemented by MPOB, an agency under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities.
To recap, the contribution of the oil palm industry to the gross national income was expected to increase to RM178 billion, compared with RM52.7 billion in 2009. The Palm Oil NKEA comprised five EPPs for upstream activities and three EPPs focused on downstream activities.