20/12/2011 (Bernama) - Next year will be a very challenging year for Risda particularly in the efforts to raise the income for rubber and oil palm growers.

Risda Chairman Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik said this was because beginning next year, the replanting agency would increase the production of rubber and oil palm under a large-scale replanting programme.

"If previously we only replant between 20 and 30 hectares of the crops, next year we are determined to double the acreage for replanting," he told reporters after attending a function here Monday.

He said Risda wanted to fulfill the aspiration of the government to raise the production of rubber and oil palm by the agency to the maximum in future.

Meanwhile, Rahim urged the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in London to speed up their research in producing tissue culture for the best rubber clone.

-- BERNAMA