Uggah: Have safety net mechanism for pepper farmers
KUCHING: The Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) has been urged to set aside a fund to buy up pepper when there is oversupply of the commodity in the market or provide subsidy as a ‘social safety net’ for pepper farmers.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said during his tenure as federal minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, he had formulated such mechanism for those in the rubber industry – now, he hopes the same thing could be done for those in the pepper industry.
“Pepper has been playing an important role in the rural economy by providing jobs, increasing the incomes of rural people and thus, helping eradicate poverty.
“I understand that the price of the commodity has been fluctuating . When the price is low, farmers tend to abandon their pepper vines – this has happened before, (and) we don’t want that to happen.
“Therefore, MPB must come out with a social safety net mechanism to ensure pepper farmers carry on with their activities when the price is low,” he told The Borneo Post on Thursday.
Uggah who is also Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Minister said the price for pepper, like other commodities such as rubber, fluctuates according to global market and is subject to the market forces of supply and demand.
Presently the prices are low as pepper from Indonesia and Vietnam is flooding the market.
Uggah also said it is the hope of the state government to see idle land in rural areas developed and at the same time, rural residents experience a rise in income through agricultural activities.
“In order to encourage rural residents to be involved in agriculture and to combat commodity price fluctuations, we have been advising them to diversify instead of relying on a single crop.
“So the state government now allows them to apply for two kinds of subsidies – pepper and rubber, or pepper and livestock, for example – but they must have land big enough to do both,” he said.
Uggah said unlike other crops, pepper planting takes up less land as 1,000 pepper vines take up less than one acre of land but income could ‘be good’ when the price of the commodity ‘is high’.
“In a perfect scenario, each vine produces about 2kg of berries and during good times, pepper farmers can make good money,” he said.
At its height, the Kuching Grade 1 white pepper fetched a historical high of RM50,000 per tonne.
On the report entitled ‘Pepper growers, dealers facing losses due to rejection of berries by marketing board’ published in The Borneo Post on July 5, DAP Serian chairman Edward Andrew Luwak alleged that MPB refused to collect pepper berries from the growers and dealers in Serian. Uggah expressed his disappointment over the news.
“MPB must look into the matter to see if there’s any truth in it. If it’s true, MPB must explain why. We are developing rural economy through agricultural activities. We must help these farmers,” stressed Uggah.