Tobacco Growers to get RM50m Aid

Source from:  KUALA TERENGGANU thestar.com.my 12/28/2005

The Government will distribute RM50mil cash aid to tobacco growers who suffered huge losses due to floods and prolonged dry spells between the late 1990s and 2001. "The growers from Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis face a dire future, as they cannot repay their loans to Bank Pertanian Malaysia," the National Tobacco Board chairman, Mohd Zain Ismail, said. "Some of them had mortgaged their land and the money owed to the banks keeps accumulating because of interest." He said the board was discussing with the bank on ways to repay the sum owed by 240 of the 300 tobacco growers in the four states. "We are asking the bank to reduce the interest (on the outstanding mortgage repayments) as we want to settle it in one lump sum," he told newsmen after meeting about 40 tobacco growers here yesterday. Mohd Zain said incentive payments would also be given to the remaining 60 tobacco growers who were unaffected by the calamities. "We began paying them two weeks ago in appreciation of their contributions to the tobacco industry," he said. He said three major tobacco manufacturers contributed the RM50mil to the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry. State Agriculture and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Jidin Shafee said that some of the tobacco growers in the state were on the verge of being declared bankrupt. Enditem