Malaysia: Government Will Look After Welfare of 13,000 Tobacco Planters

Source from:  Utusan Online (my) KANGAR  08/17/2004

The government will still protect the tobacco planting activity to sustain some 13,000 families of tobacco planters who depend solely on the crop, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Datuk Anifah Aman. He said despite the government's stand in discouraging Malaysians from smoking, attention had to be given to the tobacco planting projects to ensure a continued source of income for the affected farmers. "The government has to look after the development of the tobacco plantation in the country until there are other alternatives to replace tobacco," he said. Anifah told reporters after visiting a tobacco farm and curing station which is a joint venture between Perlis Plantation Berhad (PPB) Group and Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan (YBK) at Chuping near here Monday. He said the tobacco planting project in the country could compete with the neighbouring countries who were also producers if the production cost could be reduced and the quality of dried leaves could be upgraded. Anifah was impressed by the success of PPB Group in introducing a Hot Water Tank System in tobacco leaf drying process, which is the first project of its kind in the country. Through the RM1 million system, the drying process could be done without the use of firewood as in the traditional process. The system not only could reduce labour cost but could also improve on the quality of the dried tobacco. PPB Group and YPK, which operates a 300-hectare plantation, obtained a 300,000kg quota of dried tobacco leaves this year. Enditem