LANGKAWI, July 30 (Bernama) -- The sweat and toil of Malaysia's landsettlers took centrestage as Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak narrated Fridayefforts to eradicate poverty to mostly African guests attending theLangkawi International Dialogue (LID).

They listened attentively as the Deputy Prime Minister shared thecountry's experience in improving the livelihood of ordinary people viathe establishment of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) in1956.

Under Felda's programme, the landless is given land in settlement areasand each settler gets 4 hectares of cultivated land and a 0.1 hectare tobuild a home.

Speaking on the sidelines of the LID, Najib said: "I think land reform isimportant to African countries. We can show what we have done in Malaysiaand perhaps they can use elements of our experience in their own country."

Through Felda, he said, Malaysia was is the position to share itsexpertise, knowledge and even operate similar land schemes in interestedcountries in collaboration with the respective governments.

Najib, whose father Tun Abdul Razak (Malaysia's second prime minister)started the Felda scheme, however, admitted that poverty was not a problemthat could be tackled easily,

"Even in Malaysia, we still need at least five years to eradicate hardcorepoverty. I don't think there is any harm in talking about poverty andreminding ourselves that we need to do more," he said.

He said internal conflicts and political problems could hamper efforts toaddress poverty, including in African countries.

Met by reporters after his presentation on Felda, Najib said he explainedthe benefits derived by settlers who cultivated oil palm, rubber and sugarcane and other crops on their land.

"I offered Felda's preparedness to provide advisory and technicalexpertise if needed by South-South countries intending to start similarland schemes in their countries," he said.

Najib said there were many questions from the floor on the implementationof Felda land schemes, reflecting the interest of dialogue participants toknow more about them.

Saying that Felda was now the world's biggest palm oil producer, he said:"This is one form of a success model in land reformation which can be saidas the most successful in the world."

He said 20 per cent of Malaysia's palm oil production (or 2.5 millionmetric tonnes) were contributed by Felda a year, leaving far behind thesecond highest producer with only 500,000 metric tonnes.

Of the 811,140 hectares cultivated, oil palm covered the biggest area with82 per cent, followed by rubber (17 per cent), sugar cane (0.5 per cent)and other crops (less than 0.5 per cent).

"Felda is a big organisation with bright prospects to emerge as asignificant global player," he added.

-- BERNAMA