The Rural Development Ministry will submit two proposals to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to increase the income of Risda smallholders.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, said one of the proposals aimed to extend the period of monsoon assistance from three months to six months annually.
The second proposal, he said, was to bring up the floor price of scrap rubber from RM2.50 to more than RM3.
"For the first proposal, that is, to extend the period of monsoon assistance from three months to six months, the cost will increase from RM200 million to RM400 million a year.
"As for the proposal to increase the floor price of scrap rubber to a value above RM3, the total cost is expected to reach RM500 million."
"The cost difference is insignificant in helping smallholders, and maybe the government can consider implementing one of them, depending on which proposal is better," he said after attending the state-level Rubber Smallholders Prosperity programme at Dewan Gemilang in IKBN Naka, Padang Terap, today.
Mahdzir said his ministry and Risda's top management would discuss the proposals with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin next week.
"Then, the proposals will be submitted to the Finance Ministry for deliberation. Once the discussions with these three ministries are wrapped up, the proposals will be submitted to the prime minister."
"At this stage, the prime minister may instruct us to prepare the paperwork to be tabled at the cabinet, or take other decisions."
Mahdzir said the paperwork would focus on rubber tappers who did not own land.
"At times, some parties tend to overlook this group of people. Smallholders have a grant that they can use to get benefits, but what about the rubber tappers who don't own any land? So we want to focus on this group."
Source : New Straits Times