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11th March, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 2,500 hectares of land in Sabah have been identified for rubber replanting, Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) director-general Datuk Mohammad Izat Hasan said.
“About 1,000 rubber smallholders have applied for replanting. This is quite a feat considering that Risda has only been in Sabah since January,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Risda had been charged with helping individual smallholders develop their land while the Sabah Rubber Industry Board was responsible for implementing group cultivation.
Sabah has 123,300 hectare of rubber growing areas with 48,300 smallholders.
Izat said under the replanting scheme, qualified smallholders would be given the maximum aid of RM10,000 for fertilisers, seedlings and technical expertise.
Like in Sarawak, additional economic activities like growing of cash crops, animal breeding and cottage industry would be implemented to increase the income of smallholders.
“We hope to increase smallholders additional income to RM2,000 monthly by year end. It is a key performance indicator for Risda,” he added.
Sabah was the last state to accept Risda after Sarawak last year, aimed at raising the living standard of rubber smallholders.
Peninsular Malaysia has some 316,000 rubber smallholders.
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