Over 300,000 Rubber Smallholders To Receive BMT This Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- A total of 331,146 rubber smallholders registered with the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) are expected to receive the benefits of the Monsoon Season Assistance (BMT) this year.

Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Rubiah Wang said it involved 51,433 participants in Sarawak, Kelantan (42,978), Kedah (39,604), Pahang (24,237), Perak (19,485), Negeri Sembilan (18,021), Johor (11,913), Terengganu (11,669), Sabah (6,309) and Melaka (4,659).

In addition, there are 1,616 participants in Selangor, Penang (563), Perlis (552), the Sabah Rubber Industry Board (86,323) and the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) (11,784).

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“The BMT data is updated from June to September every year to ensure that the list is up to date,” she said during an oral question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

She was responding to a question by Kamal Ashaari (PN-Kuala Kurau) who wanted to know about the efforts made by the smallholder whitewashing process carried out through RISDA to ensure that no target group is left out of the BMT.

Meanwhile, Rubiah said the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) through RISDA is taking steps to ensure that rubber remains a commodity crop in the country even though the number of rubber farmers is decreasing.

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"KKDW together with the Ministry of Plantations and Commodities will ensure that rubber production increases from time to time, as KKDW provides incentives to smallholders, especially in ensuring that rubber is not only sold in the form of scrap as we have now increased the sale of latex," she said.

-- BERNAMA