Felda to send petitions to EU embassies
13/01/2018 (The Star Online) - KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) will send a petition with about 100,000 settlers’ signatures to the embassies of European Union (EU) members here on Jan 16 to protest the bloc’s plan to ban palm oil from entering its market.
Its chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad said so far, Felda has collected 65,000 signatures and was confident of achieving the 100,000 target by next Tuesday.
“The protests will be made at the embassies of EU member states here. We will send the petitions simultaneously (at 2.30 pm) and will be led by the chiefs of settlers,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Shahrir said Felda settlers and smallholders should jointly object to the proposal by the European Parliament to restrict the importation of palm oil biodiesel because it affected their incomes.
In April 2017, the European Parliament passed a resolution requiring only sustainable palm oils to be imported into the EU market after 2020.
He said the allegation that Malaysia’s palm oil cultivation was not sustainable was unfounded.
“This is because the cultivation of such commodity in Malaysia has covered sustainability aspects including economic and environment of the areas of oil palm cultivation,” he said.
Shahrir said one of the aims of the EU’s Sustainable Development Goals of the EU was the ability to end rural poverty by means of agriculture.
“Thus, by banning palm oil to the continent, Europe is seen to be in conflict with its own SDG,” he said.
Felda, he said, was concerned about the sustainability of its products and it would ensure that 120,000 settlers comply with Malaysia’s Sustainability Certification Scheme (MSPO) which would be made compulsory by the government from Dec 31, 2019.
“This system will ensure that the quality of palm oil produced in the country is not altered or will be blocked by countries trying to boycott palm oil, especially the EU,” he said.
He said for 2018, Felda also aimed to verify certification for eight factory complexes and over 30 factory complexes audited by Sustainable Palm Oil Roundtable (RSPO) and MSPO.
Meanwhile, Shahrir said, for 2017, Felda had offered cash incentives of RM475mil, in which RM5,000 was given out to each settler. “This incentive payment has begun in Johor Bahru and Segamat,” he said. He said this incentive was one of the six announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on July 23, 2017.
Others included forgiving debt for settlers who took out equity loans from Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd
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; setting up of a special fund of RM300mil to help with replanting operational debts of RM40,000 or more; interest-free housing loans of up to RM40,000 and approval to construct more than one house per site; and, a special replanting grant by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board of up to RM167mil, covering 24,280 ha until 2020. — Bernama