8/2/067 IPOH (The Star) -The high rubber price has prompted Perak to consider replanting some of its oil palm acreage with rubber trees.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the state government through the State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC) would conduct a study to determine if venturing into rubber planting would be feasible.

He, however, said the replanting exercise would only be carried out at plantations situated on steep slopes like those in Taiping and Kuala Kangsar.

Steep slopes, he said, were not suitable for oil palm cultivation as they gave poor yield compared with those planted on level ground like in Kampung Gajah and Lekir.

“As such, we are planning to replace some of the unproductive oil palm trees.

“We will cultivate a special hybrid that can produce latex in less than four years,” he told reporters after chairing the board of directors meeting here on Monday.

On the meeting, Tajol Rosli said the SADC had achieved a three-fold income by recording a net profit of RM6.88mil last year.

“The corporation has also targeted to generate some RM52.7mil in revenue this year,” he said.