SLDB’s huge task to help rural poor
KOTA KINABALU: A concerned smallholder from Merotai, Tawau, in the east coast of Sabah, recently took the trouble to go to the office of Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) in Kota Kinabalu, and asked a top officer how the agency might be able to cushion the drop in the crude palm oil (CPO) price which has significantly affected his livelihood.
It seemed like a hopeless situation for the local farmer since he knew very well that SLDB is not the determining factor behind the CPO price slum, much so at state level.
Interestingly, SLDB took the smallholder’s plight seriously, not only out of sympathy but simply because he is one of the 6, 221 rural smallholders who are participants and settlers in the government initiated poverty eradication schemes which are implemented by the agency.
The State Government has appointed SLDB, a state agency incorporated in 1969, to carry out some rural land development projects to provide greater long-term sustainability to the rural areas and to improve the living standard of the rural community.
Presently, about 89% of SLDB’s palm oil plantation activities around the state involve settlers and participants and more new participants are expected to benefit f rom the agency’s agricultural land projects which are currently being developed.
The drop in CPO price and yield production recently, which affected the palm oil industry nationwide, has somewhat taken a ‘toll’ on many smallholders in SLDB’s agricultural land development schemes.
But despite of the unfavorable CPO price, SLDB managed to increase the payment of dividend to its participants and settlers last year.
According to SLDB chairman Datuk Haji Abdul Rahim Ismail, the total amount of dividend paid to its 3,129 smallholders in the third quarter last year was RM15.7 million, compared to RM14.5 million in the whole year of 2013.
The remaining 3,092 smallholders will receive their proceeds once their palm oil plantation produces yield.
He said SLDB’s turnaround in 2014 allowed it to record a profit before tax of RM29.9 million from its matured fields, compared to losses of RM9 million in the previous year.
Rahim said overall the agency had paid out dividend totalling RM160.477 million to its settlers and participants from 2003 to 2014, including the disbursement of three payments of dividend in 2014.
“Of course our main concern are the participants and settlers. It’s a huge task, considering the fact that we are looking after more than six thousand people.
“We are committed to assist our people. We have carried out proactive plans to ensure the sustainability of all agricultural land projects entrusted to us.
“Since early 2014, the management has initiated efforts to improve smallholders’ schemes. Probably it takes one to two years for the plantations to show yield improvement but we are optimistic that in the near future their income would be sustainable.
“We hope the participants and settlers understand our responsibilities, especially during this challenging time. We are doing our level best to help them.
“Our last year’s perfomance showed that SLDB makes money but spends it for the benefit of the people, especially smallholders in the rural areas. This is the real objectives of the government’s initiatives to engage local community into the most lucrative agricultural business model in Sabah through community palm oil development,” he said.
The former State Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry explained that following the restructuring of SLDB on 31st January 2001, 89% of the agency’s palm oil plantation involve participants and settlers, while the agency’s commercial entity is only 11%.
“For now it might not be sufficient, but we have plans to increase our commercial plantation which would enable us to cushion the smallholders’ income in the future,” he said.
He added that SLDB general manager Haji Jazuli W. Sunarto had been tasked to focus the agency’s core business by applying the ‘back-to-basic’ approach.
“To ensure a stable and sustainable income for the smallholders, SLDB will also emphasize on enhancing productivity and efficiency, particularly on the application of fertilizer in order to achieve high yield for the smallholders’ schemes,” he said.
The government-backed poverty alleviation schemes implemented by SLDB include the high-impact agriculture-based projects such as the Mini Estet Sejahtera (MESEJ), Agropolitan schemes and communal land titles.
The MESEJ project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, aimed at uplifting the living standard of the rural poor in a more sustainable manner as well as to bridge the economic disparity between the rural and urban areas in Sabah.
The communal title concept, launched i n May 2010, is a proactive measure to overcome poverty incident in Sabah. It was also to help speed up the land application process, especially involving the native customary right (NCR) land application.
Under the communal land title concept, a designated parcel of land is collective owned by identified owners whose names will appear on the title, but the land cannot be sold without the collective agreement of every name within the title.
For the development of Agropolitan and communal titles, SLDB does not own the land but using its expertise, including financial capacity, to develop the land and manage it for a certain period of time, after which a fully developed palm oil plantation would be handed over to the land owners to continue to manage by themselves.
The agency has also committed to develop idle lands owned by smallholders i n Nabawan, i n the interior of Sabah, under the concept of ‘Projek Mesra Rakyat’ (PMR) or people friendly projects.
The two PMR projects are Nabawan Scheme and Pandewan Estate, which have a combined total area of 4,453 hectares, involving some 578 local participants, mostly from the Murut community.