ALOR GAJAH: Smallholders and settlers have been terribly worried for the past three months after the price per tonne for fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of oil palm dropped below the RM300 mark.
They are now urging the government to take immediate steps to stabilise the price as well as tackle the rising cost of living.
The smallholders and settlers also want the government to handle demands from foreign labour for an increase in wages for harvesting oil palm bunches.
Voicing the smallholders and settlers’ concerns, former Felcra Ramuan Cina Kecil, Masjid Tanah, settler Mohd Yunos Ali said the FFB prices had been in a steady decline since the beginning of the year and had registered a huge drop three months ago.
“Before that, the price was more than RM300 a tonne, but now that has dropped to RM270 a tonne and the situation is being made worse by the demands of foreign workers who want their wages to be increased. Before this, they were satisfied with RM70 for each tonne they collected, not they want it increased to RM80,” he said.
Yunos said many of the smallholders and settlers had to rely on foreign workers as they were getting on in age and could not handle such backbreaking work.
Citing his own example, he said with a 4ha piece of land, he was only able to get 10 tonnes of FFB a month.
The lower prices meant that he now had to scrimp and save, said Yunos.
Yunos, 64, is one of 25 Felcra Ramuan Cina Kecil settlers who left Felcra in 2007 and set up a group which has its own funding for their small plantations.
Smallholder Sulaiman Mohd Ali, 45, said the drop in FFB prices meant he now has to do all the work himself as he could no longer afford to pay workers’ wages.
“If the prices continue to drop, I will no longer garner any profit from my 6ha farm after subtracting costs,” he said.