KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) lauds the incentives announced in 2020 Budget as a followthrough of the White Paper tabled in Parliament, six months ago.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, in tabling the 2020 Budget yesterday, said the federal government is allocating RM810 million to maintain the well-being of Felda settlers.
Out of that sum, Lim said RM250 million will go to cash cropping and livestock farming programmes to help raise settlers' income.
Lim also said the government will also utilise RM300 million to settle outstanding interest charged on the settlers’ debts, which mainly revolve around cost of living loans and harvest advances.
Established in 1956, the Felda scheme assisted poor Malaysians by resettling them in oil palm and rubber plantations, in the hope of eradicating poverty through economic empowerment.
With more than 900,000ha of land across Malaysia, Felda is one of the world's largest palm oil producers.
There are 112,635 settler families nationwide. Together with their second-and third-generation family members, they make up a community of about 1.2 million people.
When contacted, Felda director-general Datuk Dr Othman Omar expressed gratitute to the government in following-through measures identified in the White Paper that would help heavily-indebted Felda back on its feet again.
"We're thankful for the allocation from the federal government. We are executing the measures to ease Felda's cashflow problem," he said.
Othman then highlighted the 2020 Budget had set aside RM90 million to Felda for maintenance or road upgrade at Felda premises, RM100 million for water supply and another RM70 million for housing development for the settlers' second-generation.
"Money for the upgrade of basic infrastructure such as roads and water supply will speed up programme execution as outlined in the White Paper.
During the tabling of the Felda White Paper, in April 2019, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali announced that the federal government will allocate RM6.23 billion in the form of loans and grants, in the years to come.
When contacted today, National Felda Settlers head Sulong Jamil Mohamad Shariff thanked the government for allocating RM300 million to settle settler's repayment of loan interests, as promised under the Pakatan Harapan's election manifesto.
He also expressed gratitude to the government for the RM100 million funding to upgrade basic infrastructure at settlers' schemes.
Many Felda settlers are keen to participate in the government's RM250 million programmes to be more self-sufficient.
"Some have started to plant cash crops such as vegetables, durians and pineapples. Some have also ventured into rabbit farming for additional income since global palm oil and rubber prices remained depressed," Sulong said.