FELDA and gov. organisations as for rural Malaysia

Ji Keon LOOI
FELDA and other government settings in rural Malaysia

Outline

•FELDA (main emphasis)
•MARA
•RISDA
•FELCRA
Federal Land Development Authority
•A.k.a. FELDA
Summary
•Basically, FELDA plays an important role in assisting the development of rural areas in Malaysia. It has introduced a diversity of activities which the settlers can venture into.
•Will not be examined.
Vision and Mission
VISION
•FELDA as a leading world oil palm industry and the settlers community becoming middle class in 2010.

MISSION
•FELDA's Management achieving world class and becoming global player.
•Oil palm and rubber production comparable to the best producers in the world.
•Settlers obtaining stable income.
•Settler families acquiring suitable level of education.
•Enjoying modern infrastructure facilities.
•Owing harmonious and perfect environment.

Objectives
FELDA was established with the following objectives:
•To develop plantation areas in a productive way by adopting effective agricultural management practices such as good field maintenance, maximizing production with lower cost of production.
•To encourage the development of a progressive, productive and discipline settlers' community.
•To build an excellent and dedicated management machinery based on "Professionalism with Social Development Orientation".

History of FELDA
•established on 1st July 1956
•under the Land Development Act 1956
•Reasons for establishment
–help the government carried out rural land development schemes
>manage and channel financial aids to the state Government to carry out land development schemes in the respective states
>coordinating land development in these states which include the movement of population within the states
–uplift the economic status as well as living standard of the rural community



•Since 1961, FELDA was entrusted to carry out on its own development and settlement schemes throughout the country.

Achievements
•Has developed 480 new areas totalling 853,313 hectares which became plantation and settlement areas.
•Settlers: 112,635 people from rural poor and landless community.
•Together with their families, they were resettled in the new settlement.
•Brings economic and social development as well as political stability
•Uplifts the living standard of the rural community
•Narrows the gap in the quality of the life between the urban and rural population
Settlers
•mainly homeless rural people and ex-security personnel
•Criteria:
–Citizen of Malaysia
–Married
–Does not own more than 2 acres of land
•Settler is given one plot of agricultural land (~10 acres) and one plot of housing land (1/4 acre) and is to be registered in the Owner's Registrar.

Settlers’ income
•Farms Production - Income from oil palm and rubber estates production.
•Alternative Sources - Economic activities. (eg agriculture, livestock)
•Investment – KPF (Felda Investment Co-op), Others – ASN, ASB and others.
FELDA Housing project
•To develop suitable vacant lots and already given titles to FELDA so that efforts to increase the quality of life of the scheme community are more effective.
•To ensure that settler's children in the low-income group have the opportunity to own residential houses of good quality.
•To provide opportunity to the settler's children to continue residing in the schemes to help in the growth and economic activities in the schemes.
• To help strengthen settler's family institution.
• To help the government's efforts to expedite housing development in the rural areas.
Agricultural activities
•Oil palm*
•Rubber*
•Boef goat
•Feedlot Cattle
•Bamboo
•Tongkat Ali
•Alfafa
•Kenaf*
•Guinea Grass
The Council of Trust for Indigenous People
•Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA)

Objective
–To encourage, guide, train and assist Bumiputera to enable them to participate actively and progressively in small and medium scale commercial and industrial enterprises towards creating a strong and viable Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community (MPPB).

Strategies of MARA
•Produce Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the small and medium scale commercial and industrial enterprises
•Participate actively in commercial and industrial enterprises through investments and management in companies of the Bumiputeras
•Increase the number of trained Bumiputera manpower
•Provide facilities and services and become trustee to help raise the social and economic standard of the bumiputera community
RISDA
•Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority

Functions
•Allows small farmers to replant their old and non-economical rubber tree with new clons that provide better harvests and returns
•Under this programme, small farmers are also able to replace their non-productive rubber trees with other plants such as oil palm, fruits, logs etc.

•Translated from Malay

Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority
•FELCRA
•The rehabilitation of unsuccessful state-managed schemes
•The consolidation of unused government land fringing villages for the purpose of providing additional land to small farmers so as to enable them to possess economic size land holdings
•Youth land development programme to develop unused marginal government land to provide land to unemployed rural youths
•In situ development project