KUALA LUMPUR: The one-off rubber production incentive for smallholders would be continued in light of the global commodity price slump and current national economic situation.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon said the government would conduct a study and find the best approach to help ease the burden of the affected group.
“We acknowledge that smallholders are feeling the impact of the present economic situation including rising costs, and to this end, the government has given the one-off incentive twice,” she said at the Dewan Rakyat here today.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Dr Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad (PAS-Pasir Puteh).
Noriah said smallholders in Sabah and Sarawak have also received the incentive, which would be extended to other states in the peninsula.
To Nik Mazian’s original question on the form of assistance given to the affected group, she said the government presented the smallholders with RM500 each in 2013 and 2014. –Bernama
