THE Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is an old institution. And arguably, the world’s largest in terms of size.
It was set up one year before Merdeka on July 1, 1956. But it wasn’t until three years later that the first settlers — 616 of them — moved into Felda Lurah Bilut, near Bentong, Pahang.
Yesterday, it celebrated Hari Peneroka, or Settlers Day, marking the 60 years that changed many lives. There was, of course, early movers’ pain. But pleasure did not wait too long to soothe the early explorers’ struggle.
Labour of love has its own rewards: 112,636 settlers and 317 settlements later, it was a day of looking back in love. But the remembrance of things past comes mixed with bitter challenges.
One such is now bashing the industry in which Felda has taken umbrage all this while. Crude palm oil or CPO prices are not pretty any more. On July 4, it registered RM1,880.50.
Many analysts are seeing more bears than bulls here. Like other commodities, CPO is subject to the vagaries of supply and demand. Prices of competing vegetable oils also complicate the pricing equation. Weather, too, can pummel prices.
Too much or too little rain keeps harvests down.
There is a way out for Felda settlers though. They must do what they have been doing in a big way. And differently too. Size and variety matter in agriculture. This they should have known.
The British left us their estates as a lesson in how-to. But our settlers had other ideas. Small, they think, is beautiful. This must change. Like in everything else, attitude determines altitude.
Felda must get them to see this. A land size of 4.4ha isn’t enough any more. There is such a thing as an optimum size in agriculture. This is the size strategy.
This doesn’t mean Felda should move away from oil palm completely. The variety strategy is all about diversification. Oil palm and many things else have the potential to extract the maximum out of the settlers’ land.
Adopting this strategy, the settlers move from being price-takers to price-hedgers. Oil palm and rubber, with nothing else, means being held hostage to volatile market forces. The ratio of one crop to another will be location and scheme specific.
The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is best placed to advise on the optimum combo. MD2 pineapples, for example, seem to thrive in Johor. And Pahang too. Plus, MD2 requires only 14 months from spade to plate. And it can generate RM80,000 per hectare per year.
Durian, too, is soil specific. Though durian takes three years to see the first harvest, it can generate an average of RM160,000 per hectare per year.
At some stage, Felda may need to ramp up its food production to help keep Malaysia’s food import bill down. Today, our food import bill is a scary RM60 billion.
And more frighteningly, there is a year-on-year increase in this hefty import bill. Felda must do more with its 490,000ha. It must get the settlers to see the beauty of going big in
a few ways.