MARKET DEVELOPMENT
New Policies To Benefit Palm Oil Smallholders Should Be Forthcoming In 2016 Budget
New Policies To Benefit Palm Oil Smallholders Should Be Forthcoming In 2016 Budget
22/10/2015 (Bernama) - The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) welcomes government initiatives to introduce policies that will benefit about 300,000 palm oil smallholders in the 2016 Budget.
The golden crop which contributes a significant portion of the country's revenue is now reeling from low prices.
Chairman Datuk Ar Wan Khair-il Anuar said the board hoped the government would introduce a safety net should palm oil prices dip further as smallholders, who account for two-thirds of the country's palm oil production, would be the hardest hit.
Prices are currently hovering between RM2,100 per tonne and RM2,280 per tonne.
He said Malaysia's closest competitor, Indonesia, was likely to scale down prices of palm oil as its stockpile was double Malaysia's inventory of 2.49 million tonnes as of end-August.
"We will welcome government initiative to create awareness among smallholders especially on the use of fertilisers to improve the output of their smallholdings, encourage re-planting and provide funding for the purchase of fertilisers.
He said MPOB was happy with the positive response received from smallholders towards the Oil Palm Replanting Scheme Incentive (SITS) 2015 introduced by the board early this month.
The board is running a RM100-million scheme, targeting large-scale replanting of 83,000 hectares of unproductive old palm smallholdings nationwide.
The approval for this scheme is based on a first-come-first-serve basis, with the allocation of incentives to be carried out in two phases,
An incentive of RM1,500 per hectare would be disbursed for an approved area of 33,000 hectares under Phase 1 and an incentive payment of RM1,000 per hectare for an approved area of 50,000 hectares under Phase 2.
"And lastly, we hope the government would look at ways to improve the technology to innovate machines or vehicles to simplify the harvesting process, he added.
The golden crop which contributes a significant portion of the country's revenue is now reeling from low prices.
Chairman Datuk Ar Wan Khair-il Anuar said the board hoped the government would introduce a safety net should palm oil prices dip further as smallholders, who account for two-thirds of the country's palm oil production, would be the hardest hit.
Prices are currently hovering between RM2,100 per tonne and RM2,280 per tonne.
He said Malaysia's closest competitor, Indonesia, was likely to scale down prices of palm oil as its stockpile was double Malaysia's inventory of 2.49 million tonnes as of end-August.
"We will welcome government initiative to create awareness among smallholders especially on the use of fertilisers to improve the output of their smallholdings, encourage re-planting and provide funding for the purchase of fertilisers.
He said MPOB was happy with the positive response received from smallholders towards the Oil Palm Replanting Scheme Incentive (SITS) 2015 introduced by the board early this month.
The board is running a RM100-million scheme, targeting large-scale replanting of 83,000 hectares of unproductive old palm smallholdings nationwide.
The approval for this scheme is based on a first-come-first-serve basis, with the allocation of incentives to be carried out in two phases,
An incentive of RM1,500 per hectare would be disbursed for an approved area of 33,000 hectares under Phase 1 and an incentive payment of RM1,000 per hectare for an approved area of 50,000 hectares under Phase 2.
"And lastly, we hope the government would look at ways to improve the technology to innovate machines or vehicles to simplify the harvesting process, he added.