SIBU: SALIMAH Kanawang changed for the better when she was given the opportunity to participate as a smallholder in a new oil palm planting scheme.
The scheme, managed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), allows Salimah to earn an average of RM3,000 monthly, more than what she used to earn previously by planting pepper and taking other odd jobs on the side.
"Our small pepper farm gave us a stable yield and some income for the family, but it was just not enough. The pepper plants were quite sensitive to weather conditions. If the weather was bad, we would get a poor harvest," she said.
Since getting involved in MPOB's scheme, Salimah has harvested a total of 40.33 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches from 2.8ha of her land between January and August 2011.
In addition, MPOB provides support like fertilisers for the first two years, and soft and hard skills training.
They also advise her on how to better manage her smallholding.
"I work on the smallholding with members of my family.
"This means that all the earnings from the land are for my family.
"We are happier and can live more comfortably than before," said Salimah, who uses the MPOB-invented Cantas motorised cutter, which cuts her daily harvesting time by half.
With the stable monthly income, a labour-saving harvesting process, increased knowledge on plantation management and a support system, Salimah is able to continuously improve her business.
Recently, her dedication towards her family's smallholding earned Salimah the title of best performing female palm oil smallholder in Sarawak by MPOB.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said he was glad to note that encouraging results were displayed in the sector, stemming from the efforts of Entry Point Projects which accelerate replanting and new planting of oil palm trees.
"Impacts were apparent in the replanting initiatives, where the industry maintained the hectarage of land replanted with regard to previous year's records, despite high process of crude palm oil."
Dompok said the industry also managed to reverse the annual downward trend for Malaysia's oil extraction rates, contributing signifcant Gross National Income (GNI) to the economy.
Palm oil, the most important commodity, has a planted area of 4.9 million hectares with a production of 17 million tonnes of palm oil in 2010. Malaysia is the largest exporter of palm oil and exports it to more than 100 countries with export earnings of RM62 billion.
Being a National Key Economic Area under the Economic Transformation Programme, the industry is targeted to achieve a GNI of RM178 billion by 2020.
Read more: Woman's switch to higher income - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/woman-s-switch-to-higher-income-1.64658#ixzz2A5vWNdj9
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