08/11/2012 (Bernama) - The decision by Koperasi Pertanian Cahaya Baru Kolapis Sandakan Bhd to switch from rubber to oil palm cultivation in collaboration with Felcra Bhd is bearing fruit, with its 139 members now getting an average dividend of RM5,000 every three months from the federal government agency.

The cooperative, set up in 1961 as Koperasi Sungai Balaban, assumed its present name in March 2011.

Its Chairman Along Akim told Bernama the cooperative members at first planted rubber on 320 ha. of land with guidance from the Malaysian Cooperative Commission, but its involvement with Felcra Bhd since 1995 has made it into one of the district's more succesful cooperatives, and it now has its own building at Kampung Kolapis here.