State govts urged to help rubber smallholders
Published on: Friday, November 26, 2021
By: Bernama
Kuala Lumpur: The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) has called on all state governments, including the Sarawak government, to join in assisting rubber smallholders by constructing or paving roads using the cuplump modified bitumen (CMB) road paving technology.Deputy Minister II Datuk Willie Mongin said the ministry would continue to implement CMB paving technology as well as encourage existing downstream industries such as the manufacture of rubber gloves and seismic bearings.ADVERTISEMENT
“Sarawak has the potential to develop the latex processing sector as a new hub for latex production in Malaysia and, subsequently, for the manufacture of latex-based rubber products such as rubber gloves,” he said during an oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat Thursday.
He was responding to a query from Datuk Robert Lawson Chuat (GPS-Betong) who wanted to know whether the ministry planned to open a latex downstream and infrastructure industry in Sarawak and the investment and infrastructure needed.
According to Willie, the required investment and infrastructure can be proposed based on the current status of rubber production and the development of related infrastructure required such as a network of collection centres and latex processing plants.
Apart from that, he said, the state government also increased the Rubber Production Incentive to RM3 per kilogramme (kg) for cuplump rubber.ADVERTISEMENT
“If the current price of rubber is RM2.50 per kg, an incentive of 50 sen will be given and the amount allocated by the state government is RM1.5 million.
“As of Nov 15, 2021, a total of RM390,871.58 had been paid to smallholders,” he said.
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