Fresh face brings new hope
MOST of us who know Felda would agree that it is one of our success stories in rural development. Felda is known internationally as an exemplary model in alleviating rural poverty. Other countries want to emulate the Felda model and many have engaged Malaysia’s experts to implement it. This is because eradicating poverty is an important agenda in sustainable development everywhere. Under the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), ending poverty is goal number one.
Felda has proven to be a successful mechanism in poverty reduction but its road to success has not been without turbulence and challenges. In its early days, it was not easy to persuade folks from the rural areas to pack up and leave their old villages for unfamiliar land and engage in agriculture. Each family was given 10 acres of land to grow an economic crop and an extra acre or so to build a house and plant food and other subsistence crops. Some did give up halfway but many persisted, and through the dogged persistence of the managerial staff as well, the end game proved worthy of the struggle.
A lot of credit must go to the management of Felda then who were a breed of professionals bent on making sure the experiment succeeded. From some of their anecdotes, it is clear that theirs was a struggle that could easily have discouraged the faint-hearted.
Clearing the raw jungle was one. But making sure the crops survived to yield enough fruits was an even bigger challenge. Next was to create a robust market for their produce. Oil palm and natural rubber were the crops of choice then. Nowadays, oil palm literally dominates.
Building the processing factories for both was part and parcel of the development agenda. Thanks to the do-or-die spirit of the pioneers, Felda passed the experiment with flying colours.
According to Tan Sri Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali, one of the leading management figures back then, they even managed to repay the loan taken from the World Bank to develop Felda way before the due date.
Unfortunately, things have not been well at Felda lately due to declining performance and it has been at the receiving end of many grouses from stakeholders. According to analysts, much of the declining performance is due to poor investments.
Experts have opined that Felda should stay focused on plantation instead of diversifying into a myri- ad of portfolios, many of which have no direct relation to its core business.
There are many areas in the plantation business which could be improved. One often cited is the relatively lower palm oil yield, which is mainly attributed to poor agronomic management and poor oil extraction rates in the mills. An improvement in such yields would mean a lot to the eventual revenue.
The appointment of Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor as its new chairman is seen by many as bringing fresh hope to Felda. With his vast managerial experience not only in the oil and gas sector but also in the banking industry, there is much that he can do to reinvigorate Felda.
He comes at a time when the plantation industry has to grapple with many market issues. The current low price is one but the more complicated issue has to do with the growing call by the world palm oil trade to demonstrate more commitment to sustainable practices.
Megat will have a lot on his plate and may have to come up with a new approach to tackle these issues.