FELDA’S management failed a pineapple planting pilot project in Hulu Selangor that could have boosted settlers’ income, said the Farmers’ Development Board (LPP).

Its chairman, Mazlan Aliman, said Felda’s ambivalence on the project led to it being prematurely scrapped. 

“The project never took off as planned due to silence from Felda,” Mazlan said today of the project involving the planting of MD2 pineapples in Felda Sg Tengi, Hulu Selangor.

The Felda Sg Tengi project was to have been the model for replication across all Felda schemes should it have been a success, and held as an example of how the Pakatan Harapan administration had successfully boosted settlers’ incomes.

Mazlan said the project should have been implemented last year while the settlement’s oil palm trees were being replanted.

Despite support from all the relevant agencies, the project could not proceed as there was no feedback from Felda on approvals needed to use the land earmarked for the project.

“The project is still stuck with Felda. We have no problem at the LPP level. The crux of the issue is the status of the land, which comes under Felda.

“You have to ask Felda. At the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry, the Pineapple Board and LPP, we all had no problems and were ready to start the project,” Mazlan told The Malaysian Insight.

Mazlan, who is also a second generation Felda settler, heads a federation of settlers’ welfare associations called the Solidarity Council of Felda NGOs.

In the 14th general election, he campaigned for PH to highlight the rampant mismanagement in Felda by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

Mazlan has also supported initiatives to supplement settlers’ incomes via planting alternative crops and livestock rearing.  

The project, proposed on 202ha of settlers’ land in Sg Tengi, had enough support to carry it to fruition, Mazlan said.

“The Pineapple Board would have supplied the pineapple crowns while the Farmers’ Board would have provided expert advice,” he said.

“Apart from pineapples, we had also planned for other quick-growing food crops,” he added.

“We are ready but everything now depends on Felda. The key is with Felda. At our level, we are all geared up. You have to ask Felda,” Mazlan said.

The pilot project was launched to much fanfare by adviser to the government Daim Zainuddin on December 23 last year.

There have been no developments since then, and settlers in Felda Sg Tengi are clueless as to its current status.

The project is part of an initiative to get settlers to plant other crops to supplement their incomes from palm oil, whose prices constantly fluctuate.

Mohamad Stap Othman, who heads another settler’s association, SGK2F, said if the project had taken off, Felda Sg Tengi and its settlers could have reaped RM59 million.

The initial investment capital from the government is about RM 20 million, said Stap.

In Felda’s turnaround plan, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali had allocated RM1 billion over four years for initiatives to reduce the settlers’ dependency on incomes from palm oil.

Planting quick-growing supplementary crops, such as pineapples, sweet potatoes and bananas, and live stock rearing were part of those initiatives. – October 28, 2019.