Mohamad wants owners to grow crops on idle land in N. Sembilan

SEREMBAN: Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has called on owners to develop the 12,000-hectare of abandoned lands in the state by growing suitable crops that can bring in revenue.
He said the owners should not leave their lands idle as the Agricultural Department and other government agencies, such as the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) and the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra), were now willing to help them.
"There are still owners who leave their lands idle just like that and this is a waste. However, if the lands are developed by Risda, Felcra and the Agricultural Department, (at least) they can get something out of it," he told a press conference after the state level Risda dividend handing over ceremony for this year, here today.
Also present were Risda deputy director-general (Development) Nasarudin Malek, State Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Committee chairman Datuk Hasim Rusdi and State Risda director Abu Hassan Mohd Ali.
Mohamad said the idle lands were mostly the customary and ancestral lands which were divided into farm lands or orchards and former paddy fields.

At the event, a total of 1,010 participants of the Risda's Cluster New Planting Scheme (RTBB) in the state received RM2.3 million in dividends, with each participant being paid RM800 per acre.
Risda also handed over donations to over 40 orphans in the state. — Bernama