FELDA PAYS PRODUCTIVITY INCENTIVES TO ITS SETTLERS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- The Federal Land Development Authority
(Felda) will pay productivity incentives totalling RM89.5 million (US$26.2
million) to 86,027 of its settlers, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced Monday
night.

He said the payment was in appreciation of their contributions towards the
progress of the palm oil and rubber industries and supplying their produce to
Felda.

"The rate of payment this year is a minimum of RM400 (US$117.04) and a
maximum RM1,200 (US$351.11) depending on the tonnage.

"The payment involves 86,027 or 76.4 per cent of the 112,635 Felda settlers
nationwide," he said at Felda's excellent service awards presentation ceremony
for its staff here.

Najib said the government hoped the incentive payment would spur Felda
settlers to work even harder to raise their productivity further.

The Prime Minister said the incentive payment would be made at Felda offices
throughout the country before the end of the year.

He said the incentive payment was based on deliveries made from January to
October.

For oil palm, the minimum tonnage to be eligible for the incentive was 7.01
tonne/hectare while tonnage exceeding 13 tonnes/hectare entitled the settler to
receive the maximum rate.

For rubber, it was 500kg/hectare and 1,100kg/hectare respectively.

Najib said the number of settlers involved in these two categories were
32,180 people while a total of 51,847 who were in the process of a replanting
scheme together with Felda would receive a maximum RM1,200 each.

Najib said this year, Felda had also given due consideration to some 2,000
settlers in schemes where the yields were low due to the trees no longer being
productive and were awaiting replanting.

He said they would receive RM400 each while 26,608 settlers or 23.62 per
cent of the total settlers did not meet the minimum qualification requirement to
be eligible for the incentive payment.

Besides this, settlers who managed their own farms and marketed their
produce elsewhere were also not eligible for the payment.

The Prime Minister said the incentive payment was affected by lower
commodity prices which caused Felda's profits to dip this year.

He said the mean price of crude palm oil till September was RM2,221 per
tonne as compared to RM3,484/tonne in 2008 while for Standard Malaysian Rubber
(SMR) it was RM6.07/kg (RM8.19/kg in 2008). (US$1=RM3.42)
-- BERNAMA