15/07/2011 (Bernama) - The government will continue to assist oil palm smallholders in the country with several strategies to increase palm oil output and thereby improve their income said the Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Tan Sri Bernard Dompok here.

He said about 40 per cent from the overall national production of palm oil came from smallholders under the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) and the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA) and several other agencies under the state government, including 12 per cent from 300,000 private settlers throughout the country.

"The government in its National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) is focusing on the palm oil and rubber plantation sectors which is heavily dependent on smallholders as the main contributor to the national economy now," he said when speaking at a 'Leadership with Oil Palm Smallholders' session here today.

Dompok said in line with the objective of increasing palm oil production to 26 tonnes per hectare by end 2020, the government would provide replanting assistance worth RM297 million from 2011 to 2013.

According to him, the assistance for smallholders through the Malaysia Palm Oil Board was RM7,000 per hectare for the supply of quality oil palm seeds, good agriculture input and practice besides the farm maintenance assistance of RM500 per month for two years, for qualified smallholders.

He said the government was targeting to increase productivity and the development of the palm oil manufacturing sector, including downstream activities to RM178 billion by 2020 compared with only RM52.7 billion in 2009.