Smallholder farms represent 95 per cent of land under rubber and 45 per cent under oil palm, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
He said 12 per cent of oil palm smallholders still preferred to cultivate their farms on their own while others had joined planting schemes under government-linked companies (GLC).
The main problem encountered by oil palm smallholders was the cost of fertilisers, which accounted for 60 per cent of the planting cost.
"As such oil palm smallholders are encouraged to collaborate with big plantation companies or palm oil factories," he told reporters after meeting smallholders at Rumah Johnson Ili here Wednesday.
In his speech, Dompok laid out various programmes and schemes provided by the government to rubber, oil palm and cocoa smallholders, including under the second economic stimulus package.
(Source: http://irco.biz)
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