BLD Plantation to diversify into shipment of palm oil products BY JACK WONG

KUCHING: BLD Plantation Bhd, which recently expanded its palm oil refinery in Bintulu, is planning to diversify into the shipment of palm oil products.

Executive chairman Datuk Henry Lau Lee Kong said that the company was looking to invest in the transportation of palm oil products, but had yet to decide on the type of chemical tanker to acquire.

“This is our business strategy. We think it might be good to streamline our operations from milling to the delivery of products,” he said.

BLD’s wholly-owned subsidiary Kirana Palm Oil Refinery Sdn Bhd has doubled its processing capacity to 2,400 tonnes a day with the recent commissioning of its RM60mil second plant. Last year, the group sold some 741,000 tonnes of palm oil products, mainly for export to China.

Lau said the refinery was expected to reach full capacity during the coming peak season.

“We are looking at the production of new products within three years,” he added, without revealing what they were.

Kirana’s current products include refined, bleached and deodorised palm olein, palm stearin, crude palm kernel and palm kernel cake.

The BLD group owns two palm oil mills which were operating at their installed capacities last year. The group has some 27,300ha of oil palm estates in central and northern Sarawak, of which about 93% are in maturity stage. The group produced 377,000 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches last year, which was 2.4% higher than in 2012.

Lau said another BLD wholly-owned subsidiary, Bintulu Lumber Development Sdn Bhd, was currently installing two incinerators costing RM1.4mil to convert empty fruit bunches into fertiliser for application at the group’s oil palm estates.

The incinerators are expected to be commissioned soon.

The Star.

Kulim to plant 500ha with oil palm in Kalimantan

KUALA LUMPUR: Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd plans to plant 500 hectares of land in central Kalimantan with oil palm trees in the third quarter of this year.

Kulim's chairman Datuk Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said the first 500 ha of land clearing for a new planting programme together with the 80 ha oil palm nursery would start in the third quarter.

"The group's move to secure additional landbank via its 74% stake in PT Wisesa Inspirasi Nusantara (PT WIN) is key to growth for its plantation segment," he said after Kulim's AGM and EGM.

To recap, Kulim re-entered into Indonesia last October and expanded its oil palm land bank by some 40,000 ha in central Kalimantan, which it expected to accelerate its new planting programme.

Kamaruzzaman said as the sales and purchase agreement was signed in October 2013, this was excellent progress as planting would only start after obtaining the environmental and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) approvals.

He added that the next step would be between 5,000ha and 7,000ha per annum.

"As we expand our oil palm landbank, we remain resolutely focused on managing our cost of production to maximise margins and profitability, while at the same time abiding by the principles of sustainability," he said.

Kamaruzzaman said with the limited land in Malaysia, Kulim had to look for other areas where it was suitable to cultivate oil palm apart from Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Plantations remain the key driver for the group and contributed 90% to its revenue in 2013.

Currently, Kulim's direct landbank in Malaysia exceeds 50,000ha.

The Star

Felda to open another 5,000 ha in Sempadi

KUCHING: Felda Global Ventures (FGV) Plantation will develop another 5,000 hectares in Sempadi next year under its estate expansion programme.

Seranta (Felda) Sarawak assistant director Awang Safri Awang Ahmad said this would add to the existing 19,000 hectares that the company has developed for the past 10 years.

“With the expansion the existing factory will also be expanded,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

The press conference was held in conjunction with a luncheon date with the media, Prime Minister’s Department and state Information Department and was attended by Seranta (Felda) director Mohamad Khairudin Mohamad and state Information deputy director Zaini Mohamad “That is in the new plan. There will also be side development along the estates and this will contribute to the local economy as it will create many job opportunities. Local workers are employed at the Sempadi while the supporting staff come from Peninsular Malaysia.”

Besides Sempadi, Felda’s other estate is in Batu Danau, Limbang with an area of over 10,000 hectares.

“This project involves many longhouses. It is challenging but we receive good response and cooperation from the residents because the project is beneficial to them,” he said.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/06/18/felda-to-open-another-5000-ha-in-sempadi/#ixzz3565oKVlK

Felda settlers demand for Malaysian Palm Oil Board licence

The Rakyat Post

More than 200 Felda settlers marched to the Parliament building this morning to demand their rights.

The settlers who had come from all over the country had gathered at the National Mosque before marching to the Parliament.

Many of them were carrying banners and they stopped just about 1,500m from the Parliament entrance to display their demands to members of parliament who were driving to the building.

Written on their main banners were demands for Malaysian Palm Oil Board licence to sell their oil palm on the open market.

Other smaller banners carried calls such as “don’t rob Felda settlers of their rights” and “the MPOB licence is our right.”

The crowd started to cheer as Pakatan Rakyat MPs started to join them to help them bring up the issue in the Dewan Rakyat.

All settlers cheered and marched into Parliament after opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived at about10:30am but only 20 of them were allowed into the Dewan Rakayat.

One of the settlers, who only wanted to be known as Yaakob, 62, said when they first settled on the land they were given rules and regulations which were in English to sign.

“We did not know what was stated in the books we were given, we just signed because we trusted Felda.”

He said he had worked on the land all his life and once his children had grown up only then did he realise that he was being treated unfairly by Felda.

He said this came about because his children could read English and they had helped him to understand his rights.

He urged Felda not to treat the settlers as “stupid people”.

Another settler Nasir, 59, said they were being forced to sell their oil palm to Felda at a low price.

He said they wanted the MPOB licence so that they could sell their oil palm on the open market and get a fair price for it.

“I cannot understand why we the land owners, who are paying the state government taxes all our lives are being denied the right to have the MPOB licence.

“We are the land owners, Felda does not own any land but they have been given the MPOB licence, not us.”

Nasir said they had settled and developed the land in the 1960s and that they only learnt about their rights after their children, who are professionals, helped them to understand what were their rights.

He said every settler at the protest owned at least 10 acres of land.

He said they turned to Pakatan Rakyat to fight for their rights and many of them had put aside their political differences to get what is rightly theirs.

Wangsa Maju MP Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong said Felda should put the rights of the settlers ahead of their own interest.

He said he could not understand the reasoning behind Felda’s decision to buy a £98 million (RM497 million) London serviced apartment complex.

“Not only have they spent close to RM500 million, they have also borrowed RM6 billion from  EPF.

“The money in the EPF is not theirs to simply spend, it belongs to hardworking Malaysians.”

Tan said Felda should return to its core objective, that is looking after the interest of the settlers.

How the Felda scheme changed the lives of thousands of settlers BY LIM CHIA YING, PHOTOS BY ONG SOON HIN

When the Felda Model was introduced, many Malaysians in rural areas overcame poverty, thanks to earnings from oil palm.

Mohd Hussin Yahya is a man of few words, but his facial expression well articulates a sense of gratitude for the comfortable livelihood he now enjoys owing to his oil palm land. At his single-storey brick house built on a 0.1ha piece of land ensconced within Felda Scheme Krau 1 in Mempaga, Pahang, the 69-year-old breaks into a small smile when we comment that it feels like a bungalow by rural area standards.

A peek inside shows cemented flooring and tiled walls, complete with spacious halls and a flat-screen television set in the living room. It is a dream abode – one that he never quite imagined he would own considering his humble roots (he even lived without electricity and water supply).

Back then, his house was a simple wooden build-up bereft of modern conveniences, until about five years ago when he managed to save enough from his monthly earnings as an oil palm landowner to renovate and rebuild the place.

A Felda (Federal Land Development Authority) settler now for 30 years, his poor background had been key to his eligibility for land ownership. Prior to that, he was working as a labourer at a Felda mill in Trolak, taking home a monthly income of about RM300, and to better support his family, he became a part-time religious teacher and a mosque leader (imam) in the evenings.

Mohd Hussin and his wife at their home bought with palm oil income. 

Time For Change

Natural rubber was first cultivated as the core crop, and he received 4.1ha, given to every successful applicant of the land scheme. He remembers how on rainy days, he wasn’t able to tap rubber, and that meant zero yield, with zero takings. It didn’t help that rubber prices were also fluctuating widely.

This, and the fact that rubber can only be planted, at most, twice before the soil would have been fully optimised, opened a pathway for oil palm to be introduced. Mohd Hussin says he was not afraid of giving the new crop a try when the officers came to ask him to convert his rubber tree plantation.

Today, he takes home a monthly income of at least RM1,500, thanks to the solid demand and high prices fetched from the fruit. “Most times, when there are additional yields for the month, I could pocket home an extra RM1,000,” he shares.

It is estimated that a 4.1ha piece of land grown with matured trees can generate between 10 and 15 metric tonnes of palm oil per month, and prices for a metric tonne of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) can sometimes go as high as RM1,000.

About 10 years ago, Felda appointed Felda Technoplant as its management agency to manage the estates as well as to replant the trees as a lessee on behalf of the settlers, which means they need no longer toil on their lands. Felda Scheme Krau 1 manager Suroto Ahamad says having Technoplant manage the plantations enables the settlers/landowners to take on other part-time jobs to supplement their income, like Mohd Hussin, who is now a school canteen operator.

“Of course, the landowners are welcome to go down to the ground to monitor the workers or the replanting methods or bring up any problems they have regarding the crop. It’s their land, after all, and by exercising their responsibility towards it, they are able to get better returns and yields,” says Suroto.

The Felda scheme works in a way that in the first three years of planting (before the trees mature), each settler receives an advanced livelihood wage of RM1,300 monthly. Once the planting reaches the fourth year, the trees would have matured enough to start producing fruits, and this translates to an increase in the settler’s wages to between RM1,400 and RM1,500.

It will take about 10 years or more for Felda to break-even with the palm oil returns, and at this stage, whatever monies that were paid to the settlers over the years would be offset through small monthly deductions.

Most Felda settlers can now afford bigger cars and houses because of their palm oil returns.

Generational Support

Mohd Hussin’s second son Mohd Rashid has also used part of his land to run his pedigree cat trading/breeding business Lamera, and is grateful to have a headstart from his home base.

“Felda has enabled my father and many other settlers to afford and build proper homes while providing us, the second generation, with enough capital to do some business. For example, our wooden house here has been upgraded to this brick one with a RM20,000 interest-free housing loan from Felda. My family was poor, and it was with Felda’s assistance that I could go to university, as did my younger siblings, though my elder brother didn’t manage to,” says Mohd Rashid, 36, who graduated as a landscape architect from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Of all his five siblings, three are now working, while the youngest has just completed his SPM examinations. “I was fortunate that Felda helped support me with pocket money while I was studying.”

His architect job has allowed him to save enough for a sound investment in the cat business, which costs nearly RM100,000.He hopes to borrow an additional RM20,000 from Felda to open up a new pet shop in Raub to add to the existing one he has in Gombak.

“I feel blessed (with what I have in life so far). And some day, in return, I wish to give back to the other settlers’ children here,” he says.

Various Benefits

Felda public relations senior executive Aman Shah Alladin says Felda Cooperative has also been established to encourage savings among the settlers, so those who have invested in shares (sold at RM1 per share; each settler can buy up to a maximum of 250,000 shares) are entitled to yearly declared dividends.

“For the higher education needs of the settlers’ children, Felda offers education loans and incentives (up to a Bachelor’s degree). There is also Felda Foundation that provides soft skills training and certificate courses for students after their SPM. Currently, an annual budget of RM50mil is allocated for these activities.”

Landowner Woon Kim Seng, 67, is an ex-Air Force officer who joined Felda in 1988, after receiving an offer to apply for the land. He did, and received 10-acres which he planted with rubber before switching to oil palm in 2005.

“In the early 1990s, the value of synthetic rubber was so low that it was selling at less than RM1 per kg, and I could only take home RM300 to RM400 a month after deductions, which was well below the poverty line! When Felda came to me with oil palm, I was very confident about making the conversion to this crop that they spoke highly of. A lot of people in our New Village also looked forward and embraced the change, except for a few who resisted it,” says Woon, who adds that his pension monies helped him pull through the tough times when rubber was of little worth.

Woon, who is the Felda Krau 1 Block 9 chairman (there are nine blocks in total under the Krau 1 scheme), also helps communicate the settlers’ problems to Felda. He says the benefits of oil palm outweighs those of rubber – like how it is more versatile for different uses, which translates to more side income for the planter. “There’s also less labour and other work involved, compared to rubber where your daily income depends on how much you tap for the day.”

Though it was his pension that helped put his three children – all now working professionals – through higher education, he secretly wishes that oil palm had been introduced earlier, so he wouldn’t have had to slog and scrimp so hard.

“There are people who still complain and are unhappy about things. I feel people should be thankful, as I am, for there is no government that will provide you with land and I need only wait for income to be banked in every month,” he say

An Attractive Option

Second-generation Felda settler Abdul Razak Mastor, 54, says he became interested in Felda after learning how his uncle was earning fairly well as a settler. He left his hometown in Perak after school to follow his uncle, an ex-army personnel, to Pahang to gain some experience. When he turned 24, he got married, and applied for the scheme.

“I wasn’t working at that time and just wanted to try my luck. I saw friends who were working hard but earning little, so I wanted to be a land owner for a change. So I’m very thankful to have my application approved. I believe that if we want something bad enough, we must make it happen, and be bold enough to take that step. Otherwise, we will be left behind,” says Abdul Razak, who is the head villager/chief settler for Felda Krau 1.

“Felda Technoplant is also doing a good job in managing the plantations. They have so many trained officers who look into different aspects and their research is well established. If, say, our crop was to contract diseases, help will be rendered to us immediately,” he says, adding that he still goes down to his plantation daily to potter around.

The luxuries he now enjoys include a comfortable home which he describes as “a far cry from his growing up days in his village” and owning three lorries with hired drivers. His third child, who is currently studying for his diploma, does so with financial help from Felda. If he achieves a certain grade, he only needs to repay a small portion of the funds.

According to Felda assistant regional manager (agriculture) Afzal Hanis Hamid Abd Kadir, Felda Krau 1 Scheme is just one of the 317 schemes distributed throughout Malaysia, except for Penang and Sarawak, where Felda does not operate. “We have over 13,000 settlers here in Mempaga Region owning 118ha of plantation lands, while on a nationwide scale, we have 112,635 settlers,” says Afzal Hanis.

Felda Technoplant Krau 1 scheme assistant manager Abdul Rahman Mohamad Nazri says they are concerned with the three main aspects of the oil palm estate, namely harvesting, pruning and fertilising. He has 71 workers carrying out these tasks in plantations under this scheme. While research and development are carried out from time to time to test soil samples for better fruit returns, he admits that the hilly terrain and topography pose a challenge to optimum palm oil yields.

“Oil palm is more suited for flat grounds, and in these ideal situations, the fruits can be harvested about three rounds each month. Here, however, we are only able to harvest, at most, two-and-half rounds, which is why we meet with the settlers regularly to help them as much as possible,” says Abdul Rahman.

RM103 bln in export earnings from oil palm by 2020

KUCHING: Malaysia’s oil palm industry is set to register export earnings of RM103 billion by 2020, said Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said the industry, which has been experiencing steady growth over the years and possessed potential growth in the upstream and downstream sectors, had become a significant contributor to the nation’s economy.

“Last year, palm oil and palm-oil products contributed RM61.2 billion to the country’s export earnings.

“The National Commodities Policy (DKN) envisages export earnings from the industry to record RM103 billion by 2020,” he said when opening a seminar ‘Palm Industry Labour: Issues, Performance and Sustainability’ (Pilips 2014) organised by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) here yesterday.

“The industry has also contributed enormously towards addressing rural poverty and unemployment.”

On the seminar, he said the participants would have to answer a couple of questions, including ‘How can we encourage Malaysians to work at all levels in the entire production chain?’, ‘How to reduce dependency on labour especially foreign labour?’ and ‘How to attract more young people to work in the plantation, especially the upstream sector, which is very labour intensive’.

In terms of labour, he feared the industry would face further shortage with industrialisation and urbanisation continuing to take place as part of the country’s economic transformation process to achieve developed status by 2020.

The vast employment opportunities provided by such transformation would continue to attract a significant number of individuals, particularly the young, who preferred to work in the industrial and service sectors in urban areas, he said.

“This scenario will force the plantation sector to further rely on foreign labour.”

Quoting Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) former chief executive Datuk Mamat Salleh, he said: “In Malaysia, money grows on oil palm trees, but without harvesters the money will be just hanging up there.

“So, there is less revenue for local plantation companies and foregone export earnings for the country.”

Uggah added it was pertinent to ensure there would be enough harvesters in the near future.

“Especially in Sabah and Sarawak, bearing in mind the intense competition from Indonesia, who has been hitherto the largest supplier of foreign labour to Malaysia.

“At the same time, we must also ensure our locals are given greater opportunities to work at top and middle management level in both the upstream and downstream sectors.”

He thus hoped Pilips 2014 would come up with more innovative and practical approaches to resolve labour issues faced by industry players.

“We cannot afford to have a business as usual approach to resolve these issues. We need to have a strong determination and resolve to overcome these challenges.”

Among those present were MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May, MPOA chief executive Dato’ Dr Makhdzir Mardan and Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities deputy secretary-general Mohamad Sanuri Shahid.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/06/10/rm103-bln-in-export-earnings-from-oil-palm-by-2020/#ixzz34LQdyLC3

MPOB tweaking ‘Cantas’ to boost harvesting productivity

Its director-general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May said the production of Cantas was being ramped up from the current 5,000 units per year to 20,000 units per year by 2020 to meet demands in the upstream sector.

“Efforts are being made to ensure the unit price is reduced from the current RM5,000 per unit to a maximum of RM2,500 in order to encourage its widespread use,” she said before Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas opened a seminar ‘Palm Industry Labour: Issues, Performance and Sustainability’ (PILIPS 2014) here yesterday.

Choo pointed out initiatives had been taken to raise the capability of Cantas so that the machine could be used on oil palm trees of more than 15 feet.

Apart from that, she said priority would also be given to the durability of the pole and the after-sale services to encourage more plantation owners to opt for the better harvesting technology.

“According to an MPOB study on consumer’s satisfaction on the motorised cutter, most of the respondents prefer Cantas than doing the task manually as the machine makes harvesting activities easier, hence allowing the worker to work on a large area with a higher income.”

She said the board constantly monitored the labour situation in oil palm plantations through a system known as e-labour.

The online system required estate managements to report their labour status on a monthly basis, she said, adding the information garnered would enable the board to produce a quarterly report on the labour situation in the industry.

“Based on the information collected, we can assist the government in formulating policies and strategies to address the various issues concerned.”

On the current land-to-labour ratio, Choo said one worker had to look after 10.2 hectares of plantations (10.2:1 ratio) while the highest ratio in Peninsular Malaysia was 12:1 and the lowest was in Sabah at 7.5:1.

She opined the total number of workers in oil palm plantations could be further reduced if estates could increase their land-to-labour ratio.

“Based on current statistics, there is still much room for improvement where the land-to-labour ratio is concerned, and the industry remains highly reliant on manual labour to run its operations.”

On PILIPS, she said this marked the third time the board organised such seminar to provide a platform for palm oil industry players to deliberate and discuss labour issues, performances and sustainability of the industry.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/06/10/mpob-tweaking-cantas-to-boost-harvesting-productivity/#ixzz34EFP6tWq

24 Months After Field Planting

The performance of the clone depending on how good the managemnet are in term of fertilizer use, weed control and type of land. So far I am impress with the farm condition though I am using less fertilizer as recommended. 

2 Year after Field Planting

AAR seedling growing fast in this fertile land.