by Theleaders-Online | February 3, 2020 2:17 am
PUCHONG: Two agriculture based NGOs, Malaysia Food Security and Sovereignty Forum and Padi Rescue rejected the government’s proposal to introduce estate managing system to local farmers in increasing food production in the country.
Its coordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad said this was because the proposal does not benefit the small farmers and denied their rights to tend to their own farms.
“The estate farming system that is going to be introduced to solve technological, efficiency, administration and cost problems will only see land owned by small farmers, taken over by big corporation.
“In one of the models of the proposal, small farmers are asked to apply for bank loans in order to join the estate farming system.
“Their capital will be held by banks and they are starting with a debt,” he said in a statement yesterday.
In June last year, Prime Minister Tun Dr Dr Mahathir Mohamed said the government will introduce the estate farming system to help increase the income of small holders in rural areas.
He said through the model, land belonging to small holders will be merged and managed professionally like an estate to increase agriculture produce.
Nurfitri said estate farming has higher risk and can be easily manipulated by political interests and money.
“It will be hard to monitor this system and any mistakes made will affect the whole system,” he said.
Nurfitri added that the fundamental question is can the monocultural estate system ensure food security with our climate change and even existent agricultural disease.
“The estate farming system are now seldom introduced in other countries like US and Australia.
“Farming now are done in a smaller scale in developed countries,” he said.
Nurfitri said that farming in Malaysia should be more natural and support the nation’s agrobiodiversity.
He suggested that the government tackle the main problems faced by our agriculture industry.
“The most obvious example is the lateness of paddy seed and fertiliser supply distribution, which cause off season harvest followed by low production of rice.
“Other examples include there are too many imported produce such as fruits, rice and vegetables and the issue of monopoly by certain parties have affected our local market,” he said.
By Irman Hashim
Source URL: https://theleaders-online.com/ngos-reject-govt-proposal-on-estate-management-system/
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