09.04.2018 (New Straits Times Online) - KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd has paid up a total of RM1.5 billion to the Federal Land Development Authority since its listing in 2012.

FGV must pay about RM250 million annually and 15 per cent of its annual profit to Felda under the Land Lease Agreement signed by the two parties.

President and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad said

“To date, we have paid out about RM1.5 billion since 2012 and another RM446 million to Felda. This is our commitment to our main shareholder Felda,” said FGV president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad.

He explained that the shortage of a few million from the RM250 million was due to land that was returned because it could not be developed.

FGV, he said, was in the process of selecting 40 settlers to be developed under its Program Usahawan Muda, which will be launched in May this year.

“We have engaged with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to select the 40 settlers for the first batch of the programme which we will launch in May.

“It will be an all-expense paid programme targeted to develop and equip young settlers to be trained with basic skills such as book keeping and business management.

They will also be exposed to becoming a vendor while at the same time taught how to expand their business by getting contracts from other parties, Zakaria told Mediaprima Group journalists.

“The programme is still in its pilot stage but we aim to ensure that they are ready to be on their own once they are ready.

“We see a gap between our number of agronomists and our replanting efforts which we foresee might have a shortage in skills when the time comes.

“So this is to properly close the gap between the older settlers and the new ones by giving them a way to learn from the more skilled settlers on how to properly manage their businesses,” he added.

Last year, FGV saw its plantation sector recording a big profit improvement to RM554 million from RM234 million previously on higher crude palm oil (CPO) output of 12 per cent to 2.99 million tonnes.

It harvested 4.26 million tonnes of fresh fruit bunches compared with 3.91 million tonnes in 2016, as its oil palm average tree profile has improved to 14.5 years from 14.9 years.

FGV’s logistics profit also jumped almost sixfold to RM45 million last year from RM8 million previously, mainly due to higher throughput in the bulking business, increased tonnage carried by transport operations in tandem with increased crude palm oil production.