AFTER signing a deal to allow Felda to replant his plantation in 2004, Ahmad Hashim left Felda Chini 4 in Pahang in search of job opportunities. 

The 61-year-old returned to claim his land after three years, when they trees had reached maturity and began fruiting.

However, his application to take back the land was rejected as Felda claimed he still owed the government agency money, Ahmad told The Malaysian Insight.

“They estimated that the land would break even in five years. So I was told to wait first,” said Ahmad in Felda Chini in Pekan, the constituency of Prime Minsiter Najib Razak, whose home state is Pahang.

In 2012, Ahmad again met Felda management to get his land back, but was again turned away as the agency said he still owed money.

It was then that Ahmad began wondering how much he owed Felda for replanting and the RM1,500 allowance he was paid monthly,  and whether his plantation would ever yield enough to pay off the debt.

Former plantation manager Shariman Alang Ahmad said oil palms usually started producing in the fourth year, yielding six to nine tonnes of oil per hectare that year.

“The yield will then increase by three tonnes each year until the trees enter their eighth and ninth year. By then they should produce around 20 tonnes per hectare a year. The yields begin declining when the trees turn 20 years old,” said Shariman. 

The current price of oil palm is RM5,500 to RM6,500 per tonne. 

“We don’t know how much we owe Felda”

Ahmad said he had asked Felda for a financial report or balance sheet of his holdings. But the settler said he was pushed from place to place. 

“I want to know how much I still owed them and the yields of my land. Is that too much to ask?,” he said, expressing his disappointment over the Felda management in his area.

Another settler, Akhir Ahmad has run up a RM98,000 debt to Felda, six years after signing the replanting agreement.

“I am really shocked at the amount I still owed them. After six years, my debt is RM98,000. I’m so angry because Felda didn’t tell us it was going to be like this when we signed the agreement,” he said.

He said the debt was the accumulation of replanting costs and monthly living allowance Felda paid the settlers. 

“The problem is, they don’t tell us the income generated from the land, after it starts producing yields,” he said. 

Tired of being left in the dark, he and other settlers gathered to meet Felda to talk about the replanting agreement and its impact to the settlers.

“We managed to get about 400 settlers together in 2010 and we discussed the issue with Felda officers,” said Akhir.

“I said what Felda was doing went against the vision of its founder, the late Tun Razak,” he said, adding that the settlers began efforts to reclaim their lands after the meeting. 

“In Felda Chini 4, which houses more than 400 settlers, there are about 100 settlers who are still allowing Felda to manage their lands.

“The rest have begun managing their own estates.”

As a settler managing his own holdings, Ahmad said he earned RM4,500 to RM5,500 monthly. 

Perpetual debt

Felda Chini opened in 1978 and after 20 years, the yields declined and the trees had to be replanted. The settlers were given the option of Felda’s replanting scheme in 2004.

Most of the settlers had taken up the deal, which let Felda fully manage their holdings from replanting oil palm trees to pruning and harvesting the fruits. 

During the replanting period, settlers received a monthly RM1,500 living allowance that was to be repaid once their estates begin turning in a profit.

Ahmad said starting June, Felda no longer paid the settlers the RM1,500 living allowance. Instead, the sum the settler is paid is determined by the yield of his holdings.

Second generation Felda settler, Mohd Firdaus Salleh, 31, said his father, who took part in Felda’s scheme, now earned RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month.

But Felda was deducting RM400 each month as repayment for the RM130,000 owed to the agency according to the replanting agreement. 

“How long will it take for us to repay the debt? Even after we inherit the land and after another round of replanting, we will still be in debt,” he said. – November 21, 2017.