DCM sets 2 targets for Salcra for 2020
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah has set two targets for Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) this year.
Uggah, who is also Salcra chairman, says the targets are to boost productivity to 20 tonnes per hectare from the overall average of 15 tonnes, and speed up the application of Internet of Things (IoT) to boost productivity.
He states that when productivity is high, it would be translated into good bonus and dividends for the workers and the landowners concerned.
“So work out a programme to make sure that productivity is pushed up to 20 tonnes per hectare. This is your KPI (Key Performance Indicator). At the moment, the overall Salcra productivity is only at 15 tonnes.
“But there are some areas starting to show indications of achieving this target, which means if this can happen there, it can happen in those problematic or less productive areas,” he said a er visiting the Saribas Estate in Betong on Saturday.
Salcra’s new acting general manager Joseph Blandoi accompanied Uggah during the visit earlier.
The deputy chief minister said the visit was to look into the problematic areas, pointing out that Salcra would need to look at all angles into the issues causing the low productivity, and also to come up with recommendations to solve them.
He added it was high time for Salcra to embrace more modern technologies in its estate management.
“It (Salcra) has been using drones to identify suitable planting areas in difficult terrains. But we need the IoT to monitor, at our fingertips, routines like the application of fertiliser, amount of running water, temperature and the effect of fertiliser to the plant.
“At the moment, Salcra is supplying the standard fertiliser to all its estates statewide, but we have different soil conditions in these different areas so we need to upgrade our knowledge on the suitability and the effects,” he said.
Uggah said he hoped to be on the ground more o en to do more troubleshooting.
He also touched on the outstanding issue of giving land titles to the landowners, saying he hoped to se le the ma er starting this June.
“We also want Salcra to release the land, which the owners want to develop on their own.”
He also said in the effort to strengthen the authority, more staff would be recruited at every level to fill existing vacancies.
KUCHING: Former Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) deputy general manager Joseph Blandoi has been appointed its acting general manager effective Jan 1.
The 53-year-old replaces former general manager Datu Vasco Sabat Singkang who retired in December last year.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also Salcra chairman, made the announcement in a meeting with several representatives of Salcra’s Saribas Estate landowners, at Salcra’s office in Betong yesterday.
Blandoi, a Bisaya from Limbang who speaks very fluent Iban, was among the senior officers present.
Uggah said he was confident that with Blandoi at the helm, the acting GM would bring in a new spirit of development to Salcra.
“We had sent him for a twomonth modern management course at Harvard in the USA last year, which is one of the leading universities in the world.
“We want Salcra to be on a right footing first before allowing it to go further afield in developing more Native Customary Rights (NCR) land, “said Uggah.
In its oil palm areas, Uggah said Salcra is going into livestock breeding where it currently has more than 2,800 cows.
“It is our hope that by next year, the cows could give birth to 1,000 calves and for the numbers to be gradually increasing year by year.
“We can then strengthen our livestock breeding programme, for our beef self-sufficiency and for export,” he added.
Earlier, Blandoi said he has two initial critical focuses for Salcra, namely to maximise the returns from all estates and to increase manpower competency at every level.
“We also have five strategic thrusts as the way forward for Salcra.”
He said the first was to boost operational excellence with greater adoption of smart technologies.
“We hope to identify technologies which are affordable, implementable and critical in the next three months.
“Then we want all our field staff to record the profit and loss incurred in their daily activities so that by the end of each month, we will be in the know if we are going to make profit or otherwise,” he said, adding this will also unleash the talent of Salcra staff.
“Some of them were recruited on the basis of their good local knowledge and experiences which were eventually forgotten along the way. We cannot use the same solutions to problems in every estate. We need local knowledge in our attempt to boost productivity.
“So let us use each other’s inputs, including from the landowners. Then we can have a lot of communication and innovations.”
On the same note, Blandoi said managers would be allowed
We had sent him for a two-month modern management course at Harvard in the USA last year, which is one of the leading universities in the world. Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah
to make their own decisions instead of having to refer to the headquarters.
“We are going to establish a system for finances, and approval limit of authorities. Auditors would be sent to do regular spot checks to prevent possible abuses.”
He said a new policy will be introduced to give priority to local contractors (Class E and below) so that they have more opportunities to carry out contract works through the open tender system.
There is no need to get outside contractors except for higherlevel works, he said.
On another note, Blandoi said he was all for the policy that if any estate was not making any profit for a particular year, then all its management and field workers should not receive any bonus for that year.
“It does not look right to me for them to enjoy the bonus when the participating landowners are not getting any dividend.
“These are all in my plans,” he said.