KUCHING, Nov 17: The Board of Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) at its meeting yesterday chaired by its chairman, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has approved a payment of dividends to its project participants amounting to RM60.77 million for the financial year 2021 (FY21).
The payment is 80 per cent higher than the RM33.10 million payout for year 2020.
A total of 13,176 participants (93 per cent of total participants), whose lands are in production will receive the payment.
The payment will be made in two stages; first in January 2022 and the second in July 2022, directly credited to the participants’ bank accounts.
Salcra’s general manager, Joseph Blandoi, in a statement today said the overall performance of Year 2021 was very much influenced by two major factors, namely the Covid-19 pandemic and palm oil prices.
“The pandemic had affected many aspects of Salcra’s operation, especially the oil palm estates and implementation of various initiatives to improve performance under the Salcra Transformation Roadmap.
“As most of the workers are foreigners, the recruitment of either new or replacement of the retired ones could not be carried out due to cross-border restrictions.
“This resulted in a shortage of workers to carry out field operations, especially harvesters,” he said.
To cushion the impact, Blandoi said the management had carried out several initiatives such as focusing on productivity improvement through increased estate mechanisation, especially infield evacuation; engaging contractors and recruitment of local workers.
He explained that the initiatives have yielded positive impact as the production only experienced a shortfall of 38 per cent from target despite having 47 per cent of the harvesters’ requirement.
He added the favourable crude palm oil price, which traded above RM3,600 per metric tonne throughout the year also enhanced the financial performance for FY21.
“Going forward, the management is embarking on three strategies to improve productivity of the estates namely increasing mechanisation; introducing estate agro-preneur programme to attract local contractors and Compensation and Remuneration of Estate Workers (CREW) to attract local bodies to work in the estates,” Blandoi added.
Meanwhile, Blandoi advised all participants whose lands are in production to update their bank account with Salcra Participant Development Department or through the estates’ office where their lands are developed to ensure successful crediting of payment. — DayakDaily
