Palm Oil Plant Sarawak

Our own rice bowl to reduce import

He added that the state needs to keep at least 60,000 tonnes of rice as stockpile in its warehouses all over the state due to its dependency on imported rice for 70 per cent of its needs unlike the peninsula where the rice stock is for a period of only three months as it produces at least 70 per cent of its needs.

Kamaluddin also revealed that the state’s rice stock is imported mostly from Vietnam, India, Thailand and Myanmar.

“The reason for our dependency on imported rice is because there are no willing takers to plant rice on a commercial basis as it is does not provide good returns compared to other cash crops such as palm oil and rubber,” he told The Borneo Post at his office here yesterday.

He also stressed that the current price of rice in the market is heavily subsidised by the government.

“The actual price in the market is much higher, and comparatively our rice here is much cheaper than our neighbouring country,” he pointed out.

Kamaluddin warned that the price of rice would increase in the very near future if Thailand under its new prime minister decides to increase the price of the commodity as it is the setter of its price in the international market.

He also disclosed that if Sarawak were to leapfrog from its current approach to improve rice production, the state would be at least 50 per cent self-sufficient in the next 25 years.

“It’s really a challenging task to plant paddy as it is a problematic crop. To be able to commercialise the crop, there must be a strong will from all strata of our society.

“On top of that, we must have good management of water to ensure that we have double cropping,” he said.

However, he said the state government has undertaken a wise decision by starting up a rice project in Bijat-Stumbin and Banting-Lingga in Batang Lupar, Sri Aman covering an area of 4,800 hectares as announced by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu on Wednesday.

Sarawak: Insidious Plantation Activities In Tanjung Upar Destroy ...

Sarawak: planting activities in Tanjung insidious Upar Destroy Livelihood Iban Communities "and the subsistence

Sat like to express our shock on the progress of planting activities that are conducted at a rapid pace in Tanjung Upar, Baram in Sarawak, which affect a group of owners without their consent. The company concerned has received a provisional lease (PL) on Lot No. 1210 of the District Land Puyut several years ago but has not yet issued a formal notice of the community about their intention to plant oil palm.

This LP was issued by the state government of Sarawak with those on lot 197, Lot 1207 and Lot 1200 in the District Land Puyut, measuring about 21 913 ha and involving three communities, including Rumah Melayu Chabop and Narum. These PL will soon consume the homeland that was timeless and worked by the people for their livelihood and daily subsistence - a way of life that has been in existence since the days Rajah Brooke and beyond.

Despite substantial evidence of native customary rights to land, development companies have already taken on forests of local municipal and agricultural land.

The Iban community of Rumah Tanjung Vincent Upar be currently under pressure to stay away from their own lands that were insidiously invaded by a palm oil company in early July.The community, composed of 292 people, has lost most of their fruit trees and cash crops on their land despite arguing the company to stay away from them.

They fear that the sustainability of this project will eventually erase their last remaining land and their ancestral graves that are located near Loagan Tujuh. Another company already destroyed their communal forest and covered the earth with straight lines of palm oil without any remuneration paid to them.

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