More than 1,200 hectares of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land across Sarawak have been developed through plantation and community-based agricultural projects under the Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB), benefiting about 600 rural participants statewide.
Deputy Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail said 1,247.02 hectares of NCR land had been developed involving oil palm, rubber and coffee plantations in areas including Pakan, Sri Aman, Kapit, Lubok Antu, Simunjan and Samarahan.
“Among the projects implemented are 437.22 hectares of oil palm plantations in Pedanum, Pakan involving 125 participants, 577.2 hectares of rubber plantations in Sri Aman, Pakan, Kapit and Lubok Antu involving 295 participants, as well as 232.6 hectares of coffee plantations in Simunjan, Samarahan and Sri Aman involving 180 participants,” he said.
He was responding to Meluan assemblyman Datuk Rolland Duat Jubin during question-and-answer session.
Abdul Rahman added that participants in oil palm projects received annual rental payments of RM1,440 per hectare, while rubber and coffee projects would be handed over to landowners once the crops began producing yields.
On funding under the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12), he said SLDB had implemented three NCR development projects involving RM29.7 million in allocations, including RM9.7 million for mini rubber estates, RM12 million for cluster rubber planting projects and RM8 million for cluster coffee planting projects.
He added that SLDB welcomed applications from NCR landowners across Sarawak, including Meluan, but noted that no complete applications had been received from the constituency so far.
