26/11/05 (The star)  - The Government, through the Ministry of Plantation Enterprises and Commodities, has introduced a special scheme to help poverty-stricken rural folk in Sabah and Sarawak to venture into the oil palm industry.

Rural families in Sarawak with land of 2ha or more and total income of below RM600 a month will be given free high-quality seedlings by the ministry to start their own oil palm smallholdings.

In Sabah, families earning RM650 and below will qualify for similar assistance from the ministry.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board will supply the seedlings.

Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said his ministry received a RM10mil special allocation from the Finance Ministry to implement the scheme in East Malaysia.

“This scheme is meant to help very poor families interested in smallholding projects to obtain high-yielding seedlings.

“There are 3,000 families in Sarawak which have applied for assistance under this scheme and we expect more from the state and from Sabah to be given such aid,” he said in an interview.

Chin, who is Miri MP, said the main regions in Sarawak with good potential in the oil palm plantation industry and related sectors were Sibu Division and Miri Division.

In Sabah, the Ministry had identified Keningau, Tenom and Tawau as the main centres, he said.

Apart from free seedlings, the ministry will arrange free training courses for poor smallholders to benefit from new technology and new methods used in planting and harvesting.

They would be taught advanced methods of fertiliser application and fruit processing, he said.

On a related matter, Chin said his ministry wanted palm oil producers in Sarawak and Sabah to increase their yields as the ministry would be starting its bio-diesel project next year.