Ministry to appoint agents to reduce rubber price manipulation

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SERIAN: Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities is planning to appoint agents to buy rubber products directly from the rubber tappers in an effort to reduce price manipulation by middlemen, revealed its minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

He added that even though there was lesser incidence of manipulation by the middlemen in Sarawak, the ministry would go ahead with its plan.

“What we can do is to appoint agents like what Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is doing. By doing this we will reduce the incidence of (price) manipulation by middlemen especially in the rural areas,” Dompok told the media after officiating at the Malaysian Rubber Board Clone Expansion Project at Kampung Lebor, near here yesterday.

He was responding to a call by local smallholders who have complained that the price of the commodity has fluctuated due to control by the middlemen.

On a related matter, Dompok said he would be bidding for a fund to plant some 25,000 hectares of rubber in Sarawak in the next five years.

“I am confident the government will provide the fund because rubber is now one of the 12 areas of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA). The government wants to add it together with palm oil,” said Dompok.

If successful, each participants will be allocated RM13,000 per hectare of rubber which will be planted throughout the state.

Currently there are some 158,491 hectares of rubber planted in Sarawak which are mostly owned by the smallholders.

“Our target is to identify other areas which are suitable for the crop,” he added.

Dompok revealed that under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the federal government had allocated some RM8.394 million for 1,450 hectares of rubber in 36 locations in Sarawak.

He said the scheme has already benefited 1,550 smallholders.

“There is definitely bright future for the local rubber industry,” stressed Dompok.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Rubber Board (MRB) secretary-general Datuk Dr Salmiah Ahmad revealed that some 250,000 smallholders have benefited from the scheme provided by MRB.

“Our research and development has enabled us to produce higher yield rubber trees which increased productivity of our smallholders,” she added.

Hassan dilantik sebagai temenggung Penan pertama

Posted on April 3, 2011, Sunday

MIRI: Kebajikan kaum Penan di negeri ini akan lebih terjamin dengan pelantikan jutawan Penan, Datuk Hassan Sui sebagai temenggung Penan yang pertama semalam. Surat pelantikan beliau itu telah disampaikan Timbalan Ketua Menteri Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Num-pang pada satu majlis ringkas yang diadakan di pejabatnya (Jabu) di Kuching, Jumaat lalu.

Hassan, 63, ketika ditemui pemberita setibanya di Lapangan Terbang Miri dari Kuching lewat petang semalam menyifatkan pelantikan beliau sebagai penghargaan dan pengiktirafan paling tinggi kepada masyarakat Penan di negeri ini.

“Istimewanya pelantikan ini ialah saya bukan hanya dilantik sebagai temenggung Penan bagi kawasan Miri sahaja tetapi Sarawak keseluruhannya,” ujar beliau yang ternya-ta amat terharu dengan pelantikan tersebut. Justeru beliau mengucapkan berbanyak terima kasih kepada kerajaan di bawah pimpinan Ketua Menteri Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud kerana telah memberi kepercayaan kepada beliau untuk menyandang jawatan sebagai ketua masyarakat kaum Penan.

Menurut beliau, apabila dilantik sebagai temenggung, sudah pasti tanggungjawab yang dipikulnya juga berat memandangkan beliau perlu menjaga kebajikan semua kaum Penan yang ada di ne-geri ini. “Saya akan berusaha meningkatkan taraf ekonomi kaum Penan yang dianggarkan seramai 16,000 orang serta tinggal secara bertaburan di beberapa bahagian di negeri ini,” jelas beliau.

Menyentuh sedikit latar belakangnya, Hassan yang merupakan ayah kepada sembilan orang anak merupakan jutawan Penan bukan sahaja di Malaysia tetapi juga di seluruh dunia. Beliau yang dilahirkan pada 7 April 1948 di Ulu Suai mula mendapat pendidikan awal pada Januari 1957 sebelum melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat sekolah rendah atas di Central Upper Primary School, Bekenu pada 1962 dan 1963.

Dilahirkan dalam sebuah keluarga Penan yang berpindah-randah, beliau yang merupakan anak kaum Penan yang pertama memijakkan kaki ke sekolah hanya mendapat pendidikan sehingga Darjah Enam. Pada 1968 dan 1969, beliau telah bekerja dengan kerajaan sebagai Upriver Agent (URA) di Tegageng Suai dan kemudian dilantik sebagai Pesuruhjaya Perkhidmatan Awam Negeri dari 1978 hingga 1985.

Manakala pada 1991 hingga 2000, Hassan telah dilantik sebagai Pegawai Hal Ehwal Pembangunan Orang Penan Sarawak sebelum melibatkan diri secara aktif dalam bidang perladangan kelapa sawit. Sementara itu, daripada sembilan orang anaknya, empat daripadanya berjaya melanjutkan pelajaran hingga ke menara gading yang terdiri daripada Maria Hassan lulusan Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Kedah, Serina Hassan (universiti di Amerika Syarikat), Azlan Hassan (university di Australia) dan Herman (INTI College Kuching).

Minister wants National Food Policy to be continued

Posted on January 11, 2011, Tuesday

PUTRAJAYA: The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry will propose to the Cabinet that the National Food Security Policy which ended in 2010 be continued to ensure sufficient food supply at all times.

Its minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said the proposal paper was ready and would be submitted to the Cabinet soon. We cannot guarantee the proposal will be approved as we all know that the policy was introduced to assist farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders faced with high agriculture input costs due to the oil price hike.“But we will be appealing to the Cabinet for the policy to be continued,” he told reporters after delivering his New Year message to the ministry’s officers and staff here yesterday.

The National Food Security was introduced in 2008 to increase food production and ensure stable food prices in the country following the global food crisis that year. Noh said under the policy, RM3 billion was allocated for agriculture development from 2008 to 2010.

He said this year, RM2.77 billion was allocated for management expenditure, of which RM1.54 billion was for increasing padi output, whereby farmers would be provided assistance. The assistance is in the form of fertiliser subsidy (RM409 million), padi price subsidy (RM480 million), padi seed subsidy (RM85 million), padi production incentive (RM150 million), increased padi yield subsidy (RM80 million) and rice price subsidy (RM167 million).

Noh said the ministry also required an additional allocation of RM400 million for the padi sector to ensure supply would not be affected by problems caused by unpredictable weather conditions. He said under the Tenth Malaysia Plan, the ministry was allocated RM1.6 billion for a two-year period (2011-2012) by the Economic Planning Unit to implement the agriculture National Key Result Area.

“A sum of RM821.4 million is allocated this year to implement 11 projects, including the large-scale Integrated Aquaculture Zone, increasing padi yields, and raising livestock breeding-oil palm plantation integration.” Noh also said that about RM2 million would be disbursed to eligible livestock breeders affected by the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak.

Veterinary Services director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin had earlier confirmed that the FMD had attacked dairy cattle in Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Terengganu.