Ministry proposes oil palm replanting grants

The Plantation and Commodities Ministry will propose oil palm replanting grants to the Finance Ministry, said Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof.

Fadillah (above), who is also plantation and commodities minister, said the grants were among matters requested by oil palm smallholders as the crops needed replanting.

“We will look at the feedback from the smallholders who requested for the replanting grants and Insya-Allah, we will take it to the Finance Ministry and hopefully, it will be given due consideration in the next budget,” said Fadillah in his speech at the launch of his ministry’s Commodity Track Dialogue with Selangor oil palm smallholders at Pulau Carey, Klang.

Later, when met by the media, Fadillah explained that what the government is currently doing for the replanting initiative is providing soft loans through Agrobank where the smallholders are only charged interest or a management fee of 2 percent and start making a repayment in the fifth year.

“This is because if you replant (the crops) and there is no yield, you will have to wait for four years and repayment will only start in the fifth year.

“This soft loan is not only for replanting purposes but also to purchase fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural inputs, and tools,” he added.

The dialogue held today is one of the government’s on-the-ground approaches to meeting oil palm smallholders, especially in Selangor, in addition to being able to provide information and dissemination of information on good agricultural practices (GAP) and the country's oil palm market situation to smallholders.

In today’s session, the ministry focused on palm oil and cocoa while Sime Darby provided a briefing on mechanisation and automation.

- Bernama