Oil Palm Smallholders in Mukah

SIBU: Oil palm smallholders in Mukah and surrounding areas have made an urgent appeal to the government and the Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to build a specific mill that would offer a standard price for their fresh fruit bunches (FFB).

Many of them are caught in a dilemma as the seven mills in Mukah are offering differing prices for their FFB.
As such they have no choice but to sell their products to the Sarawak Plantation Agriculture Development (SPAD), which currently offers the best price.

Unfortunately, they are forced to join a long queue if they desire so, depriving them of time, and causing great stress and hardship in their bid to sell their product.

Three smallholders, Sim Yau Chen, Kahim Byaru and Garai Badin, visited the PKR Lanang office yesterday to express their dissatisfaction with the MPOB and the government for refusing to look into their predicament.

“We have been waiting for a long time but MPOB appears to turn a blind eye to our request. We really hope MPOB, together with the government would give us some resolution,” Garai said.
Garai claimed he had to wait for two days on one occasion just to sell 15 to 20 metric tons of oil palm.

“The long queue is taking a heavy toll on our livelihood. If we join in the queue to sell our FFB, then there would not be anybody to take care of our business,” he said.
Kahim said the government and the MPOB were doing a disservice to them.

“On the one hand, they encouraged us to go into the oil palm industry but on the other hand, they are putting extreme pressure on us by refusing to lend support,” he said.
Kahim said they might be forced to quit the business if the mills continued to manipulate FFB prices.

PKR Lanang division chairman George Chen said the government and the MPOB should immediately step in to resolve this longstanding problem.
He said it was a waste of time and resources when smallholders are forced to wait by the roadside in front of SPAD’s office to sell their FFB.
“Naturally, the smallholders will choose the mills that offer the highest price and as a result they have to join in these long queues,” he said.

Chen said the situation worsened when other mills began ascribing a lower grade to the FFB before buying them while others chose to reject the FFB outright, saying it was not up to standard.

In the past, Chen said the mills offered a standard price for the FFB.
Recently, they had come up with different prices for different FFB grades, thus putting smallholders in a dilemma.

“If they want to sell their FFB to SPAD which offers the highest price at the moment, it would mean them having to sacrifice their time to join in the long queue,” he said.

Chen said under the grading system, one metric tonne for Grade A oil palm fetched RM661, Grade B RM567 and Grade C RM441.

Before the grading system, Chen said the smallholders used to sell their FFB at RM661.
“Now, some mills ascribe these FFBs under Grade C, hence offering RM441 per metric tonne. This is akin to robbing the smallholders of their hard work,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman from MPOB when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday said they would send enforcement officers to look into the matter immediately.
“There are various issues to look into including the quality and source of the FFB,” the spokesman added.



Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/09/23/mukah-oil-palm-smallholders-in-a-dilemma/#ixzz2D3CiwLAM