MRB Turns Idle Land In Melaka Into Rubber Plantation

JASIN, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- Since 2009, the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) has turned 78 hectares of idle land in Melaka into rubber plantations, involving an allocation of RM404,000.

Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the idle land were developed through the Rubber Sapling Management Project and Rubber Technology Village Development Project.

"It involves Kampung Kesang Barat, Kampung Kesang Tua, Kampung Kemengkang and Kampung Air Barok in Jasin and Kampung Bukit Payong in Alor Gajah," he said when launching the rubber plantation project on idle land at Jalan Loji Air, Kampung Chinchin, near here Monday.

Mohd Ali said a total of 1,095.95 hectares of land in the state had been identified as idle land and half of them could still be planted with rubber, mixed crop or cash crop like pineapples together with rubber.

He said the rubber plantation in Melaka made up 4.47 per cent or 48,344 hectares of the total rubber plantation nationwide.

He said a total of 23,342 rubber smallholders with land size of 33,994 hectares were registered under the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda), followed by 508 people (1,703 hectares) under the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and 170 people (381 hectares) under the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra).

Mohd Ali said there were 160 hectares of idle land in Jasin, but of the total, only 48 hectares were suitable to be planted with rubber trees.

The MRB had also provided the allocation to implement the project in Jasin in line with the state government's aspiration to turn Jasin into an agricultural hub, he said.

At the launch, 19 participants of the project, which involved an area of 20 hectares, received supplies of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and participation certificates from the MRB.

Also present were State Industrial, Trade, Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Committee Chairman Datuk Md Yunos Husin and MRB chairman Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah.

(Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=565217)