KOTA BAHARU: Rubber smallholding is still lucrative as the commodity continues to fetch high price in the international market, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said the demand for rubber for industrial needs from China and other countries was still high, thus this augured well for the country’s rubber plantation sector.
“The rural economy is still in good shape owing to high price of rubber,” he told reporters after presenting the state-level cluster replanting dividend here, yesterday.
Mustapa said the high dividend turnover was driven by high price of rubber and high yield as a result of good agricultural practice adopted by Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda).
On July 28, Risda announced a dividend payment totalling RM314.6 million for 39,306 participants of cluster and commercial replanting activities for the 2011 compared to RM189 million the previous year.
Meanwhile, Risda director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Zuki Mohamad said the dividend distribution was expected to be completed before Aidilfitri.
He said in Kelantan, 1,459 farmers would receive dividend amounting to RM4.7 million for 1,417 hectare of rubber smallholdings. — Bernama