Govt plans to merge Felda settlers’ land into big estates, says Mahathir
Bernama
-July 7, 2019 2:35 PM
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad arriving to launch the Felda Settlers Day 2019 celebration in Felda Selancar 3, Rompin, today. (Bernama pic)ROMPIN: The government plans to merge Felda settlers’ lands to become big estates that can generate lucrative income for them through more efficient and professional management, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said this type of management was practised by huge estates belonging to foreigners since the time of the British colonial administration.
This enabled them to make profits even when commodity prices dropped, though the margins were small, apart from not having to depend on subsidies, he added.
However, he said efforts to convince Felda settlers to go down this road might be difficult in the beginning, especially with the first generation settlers who were now mostly aged above 60.
“They were already (Felda) settlers from the beginning and thus it will be difficult to change their mindset. But they are landowners and if we can get a larger acreage to be managed for them professionally, we are confident of obtaining higher yields.
“The profits can be distributed according to the size of the land they contribute.
“They (settlers) can work with the management on the running of these estates or obtain income based on their land size,” he told a press conference after launching the Felda Settlers Day 2019 celebration in Felda Selancar 3 here today.
Present were Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, Felda chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh, Felda general manager Othman Omar and Felda Settlers head Sulong Jamil Mohamed Shariff.
Mahathir said that he was of the view that this should have been done some time back.
Towards this end, Felda would embark on this model where the settlement is at least 404 hectares in size.
The Felda management, the prime minister said, also should no longer depend solely on oil palm or rubber, as was being practised now, so that the settlers’ income was not badly affected when the prices of the commodities dropped.
“Once merged, the size of the estate will be as much as 1,000 or 2,000 acres (404ha to 808ha).
“From this, we might be able to take 80ha to plant other crops. For example, in Pahang, where the land is fertile, water melons and pineapples can be cultivated here.
“We want to avoid depending on a single crop by planting crops that have a higher demand, domestically and internationally, apart from helping the nation’s supply chain,” he said.
