FELDA can recover and regain settlers’ confidence in five years, Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali said today after tabling the Felda white paper in Parliament.

 “Five years is our target,” he told a press conference at Parliament.

“Hopefully, with the new management and leadership, we will be able to restore the confidence of settlers and strengthen Felda’s position.

When tabling the White Paper earlier, Azmin said Putrajaya has allocated RM6.23 billion to rescue Felda from its “critical” financial troubles that had started during Najib Razak’s administration.

The allocation is in the form of loans, grants and government guarantees for the agency to restructure its loans and the debts taken by the land scheme’s settlers.

It is also to create new agricultural activities for settlers’ children.

Azmin said the white paper also looked into changing the future direction of Felda to ensure its sustainability and to safeguard the dignity of settlers.

He said Felda will look into implementing different productivity components, like housing, cutting settlers’ debts, and skills training to help settlers generate income.

He said RM250 million would be channelled to building homes so second generation settlers could return to Felda to boost the areas’ productivity.

“We are also looking at reducing the debt burden of settlers by scrapping the interest. That will boost their economic power in seven years.

“We are also looking at a four-year programme to develop new sources of revenue for settlers, with a fund of RM250 million to train skills and potential so settlers can rely less on oil palm.”

Azmin said settlers could venture into farming and livestock breeding using approaches like smart farming and precision agriculture.

“That is the future for settlers. So, in five years, we hope Felda can return to being a institution of integrity, with an improved financial position,” he added. – April 10, 2019.