KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 - Felcra Bhd aims to venture into the lucrative herbindustry to diversify its business and reduce its dependency on rubber andpalm oil earnings.

Its chairman, Datuk Hamzah Zainudin, said it was crucial for Felcra toprovide a steady income that is less vulnerable to changes in the globalmarket. He said rubber and palm oil earnings were highly volatile. Theglobal herb market was estimated at US$80 billion (RM304 billion) in 2001.The World Bank estimated that the value would go up to US$5 trillion in2050.

Hamzah said, consistent with this, Felcra was working closely withagencies such as Mardi and FRIM, on research and development.

But he said its participation in the herb sector was at its initial stageand was unable to say when the venture would go full scale.

"The main stumbling block is how to commercialise the products.

"We welcome companies interested in assisting us in this move," he toldthe New Straits Times today. Palm oil and rubber represent 60 per cent and30 per cent of Felcra's revenue respectively.

The remaining 10 per cent is from other crops, namely padi and pepper.Besides this, Hamzah said, Felcra had also ventured into prawn rearing.

He said Felcra had 240 hectares allocated for this venture, whichgenerated more than RM500,000 in revenue last year.

"This is a growing business and we expect a higher revenue this year withthe opening of new ponds." On another matter, Hamzah said Felcra wouldsettle the remaining RM123.7 million of the total RM232.2 milliondividends by this month instead of next.

He said the early dividend payout was to help Felcra participants preparefor the Raya celebrations.

Participants in Perlis and Penang had received their payments.

"Whatever it is, everything will be settled by this month. We wantparticipants to have extra cash for Raya." Felcra has paid around RM1.12billion in dividends. The dividend this year is the second highest, after1999, which saw Felcra paying around RM262.27 million.

The highest dividend recipient this year is Perak at RM53.56 million,followed by Pahang at RM53.11 million and Johor at RM39.49 million.