Freeing poor Penampang folks from hardship
Published on: Friday, March 13, 2015
Penampang: Poverty has always been associated with people who reside in rural areas because of the gap in infrastructure and facilities, education and participation in the economy compared to people in urban areas.However, the opportunity to improve their standard of living and economy is always available if they really utilise the resources around them.Government bodies and private agencies are also always willing to step in to help them realise this.
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It is for this reason that the Penampang Agriculture Development Committee comprising the Agriculture Department, Fisheries Department, Sabah Rubber Industry Board (LIGS), Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) and Information Department, as of end of last month, came to interior village of Kg Buayan and surrounding villages to help the people accomplish their potential so as to release them from being continuously labelled as a hardcore poor community.Located about 30km from Donggongon township, Kg Buayan can be accessed using four-wheel-drive vehicles through a dirt road or jalan kayu balak (road built by former timber concessionaires).Or, for those who are physically fit, they can attempt the six-hour walk across steep hills, rivers or streams and mud-soaked paths.The nearest villages surrounding Buayan are Kg Terian, Kg Tiku, Kg Pongobon and Kg Kalanggaan.
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Buayan village chief, John Sobitang, 51, said the people's main source and activity in the remote settlement is agriculture."But the condition of the (timber) road is making it impossible for the villagers to market their farm and orchard products and produce in the nearest town of Donggongon," he said.
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Because of this, the products and produce are mostly used or consumed by the respective households.However, he believed that a government-initiated agriculture development being implemented in the village could enhance the households' income and at the same time attract infrastructure development to the interior.If this is accomplished, the youths could venture out from the village to gain knowledge and experience and then return to the settlement later and use what they have gained to improve the village's predicament.The Agriculture Department of Penampang, explained during the visit, that Buayan, Tiku and Terian settlements are alternatives to the rice bowl locations in the district.Based on its records, there were 2,500 hectares of paddy fields in Penampang not too long ago in 1995.And then urbanisation became rapid and subsequently altered the landscape of the district.Where previously paddy fields dominated the scene as far as the eyes can see, it is now replaced by housing estates, rows of shops and various other development.Cultivation of crops, especially paddy, is hardly prevalent now in urban and its outskirts.The interior is now the focus of paddy cultivation as well as other crops.In Buayan alone, there are 34 paddy farmers involving 25 hectares of land while in Tiku, 14 farmers over 12ha of land and Terian, 35 farmers over 34ha of paddy fields.Penampang Agriculture Officer, Joseph Fung, who was also the group leader said the functions of the District Agriculture Development Committee (JPPD) is to coordinate all related activities on agriculture development in a district.In Penampang, he said, the committee is made up of all departments and agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and also Federal agencies such as Area Farmers Organisation, Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and Agrobank.Nevertheless, the recent visit, he said, only saw participation from several departments and agencies.During the event, the Agriculture Department carried out registration for rice field plowing subsidy and incentive for hill padi through its mobile registration unit."Apart from that, the department also conducted a demonstration on the making of cassava cake to the housewives and also distributed fruit and vegetable seedlings," he said.Villager Bugiad Motingkos of Kg Buayan said he appreciated what the Agriculture Department had done in helping the people in the interior."We are really grateful to the department for conducting the mobile registration in our village because it is difficult for us to go to Donggongon," he said.According to him, it costs a villager about RM100 for the 4x4 return fare, which is simply beyond their means.Benedict Gihol of Kg Kalangaan said the villagers walk uphill for six hours to Gunung Emas just to be able to take one of the modes of transportation for people in the interior, pirate bus, to go to Donggongon."But with the availability of the mobile service, we only walk two hours to Kg Buayan to obtain the department's service," he said.District LIGS enforcement officer, Feistin Intim, explained that the projects being carried out by the LIGS under the 2012 National Key Economic Area's (NKEA) special project involved four blocks of new rubber clustered cultivation.The blocks are Terian I (95ha, 30 participants), Terian II (85ha, 23 participants), Tiku Buayan (76ha, 24 participants) and Timpayasa (68ha, 16 participants).Feistin said the total acreage is 324 and 93 participants, involving a cost of RM4.536 million over five years.He said because of the development project, roads to the rubber estates are built and upgraded.A participant in the visit, Petrick Benedict, 24, said the construction of roads to the rubber estates is paving the way for an alternative road for the villagers to market their rubber produce that previously had to be transported or floated downstream through the river.Penampang fisheries personnel, Tony Anus, said such programmes benefit the villagers."Our objective is to provide mobile service for registration and also application for fish fries to the entrepreneur or existing breeders in the village," he said.He said most fish breeders in the village consume the fish they rear.So, it is the department's priority to provide counselling and training to these breeders, he said, adding that the type of fries they mostly requested are red tilapia.He also said the trip was to also identify the impact of the tagal system on the people in the locality particularly on protection, conservation and management of the river fishery resources."There were six tagal committees that were formed in this area involving 166 members," he said.He said after the river is given tagal status, the villagers divide it into several zones where in the red zone, fishing for consumption purposes is prohibited because the fishes there are only meant for conservation.Sport fishing is allowed where fishes caught are released, he said.In the yellow zone, the villagers are allowed to harvest the fishes once or twice a month while in the green zone, only the members are allowed to fish there.Because of the tagal system, the fish population there have improved significantly.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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