Agriculture Dept to propose new manual on subsidy system to cabinet
SIBU: The state Agriculture Department has presented to the state cabinet its new manual for the implementation of subsidies.
According to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, the new manual is meant to empower the farming community as it is set to ensure that the subsidies given would be implemented properly.
Under the new manual, subsidy recipients would be involved in the management of their own farms – an environment that should create community- based enterprises later on.
Explaining further, Uggah – also Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Minister – said in the past, one longhouse of 20 families would receive rubber subsidies with the input amount of RM13,500 per hectare.
“If RM13,500 was multiplied by 20 families, then there would be a requirement for the project to be tendered out.
“Under the 10th Malaysia Plan, there was an audit report stating that the (Agriculture) Department’s performance was only at 53 per cent for this particular area – one of the reasons was delay in the tender system.
“That is why the department has come up with the new manual,” he told reporters during the ‘Sarawak Agriculture Department’s Appreciation Dinner’ at a hotel here on Sunday.
Still referring to the 20-family longhouse example, Uggah who is Betong assemblyman, said the participants would be asked to form a ‘ Project Management Committee’ ( PMC) in which the department would be represented by one officer.
“The responsibility of PMC is to choose the contractor and also to supervise the implementation of the project,” he said.
Uggah added that the fund of about RM6,000 for the first phase of the subsidy implementation would be paid into the PMC account, co-managed by the Agriculture Department.
“Before the department made the recommendation for the new manual to the state cabinet, it had done trials on four projects – it found that it took only one month to select the contractor.
“The involvement of the people to supervise the project seems to make the system more effective because they are looking after their own farms.
“We hope under the 11th Malaysia Plan, our performance would be a lot better and that would mark be the beginning for people’s involvement,” he said.
Uggah also advised recipients of subsidies to cultivate different commercial crops to diversify their incomes, which could help them to cushion the impact of fluctuating prices of commodities.
Meanwhile, the dinner hosted 254 personnel of the state Agriculture Department, all of whom received certificates of appreciation from Uggah.
Assistant Minister of Native Land Development Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, Kanowit MP Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang, Sibu Resident Hii Chang Kee, Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Ministry’s permanent secretary Buckland Bangik and state Agriculture Department director Datu Lau Kui Fong were among the VVIP guests.