CLOSE to 13,000 Sarawak native landowners in the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) oil palm plantation scheme are to receive a small return on their investment at the end of this month.

The native land development agency today announced it will make its 2020 net proceeds payment (NPP) of RM33.7 million to 12,994 participants.

The payout will be made in two instalments with the first payment of RM16.8 million to be credited to the landowners at the end of the month.

The balance will be paid in July.

Salcra stated that the 2020 NPP had been affected by low palm oil prices on the international market, the Covid-19 pandemic, shortage of manpower and weather.

It said the palm oil market prices were low in the first half of the year and only reached RM3,000 per tonne in September, while the Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted plantation operations as harvesters, the majority of them migrant labour, had been barred from entering the state.

Salcra added on top of those two reasons, the state last year also experienced unusually high rainfall when compared to previous years.

“These factors have affected the production and harvesting of the fresh fruit bunches.”

The agency also added mature farming areas had also decreased to only 28,690 hectares due to replanting. – January 26, 2021.