MOST of us who know Felda, or the Federal Land Development Authority, would agree that it is one of our success stories in rural development.
Felda is known internationally as an exemplary model in alleviating rural poverty. Many want to emulate the Felda model. Many have engaged Malaysia’s experts to implement the model in their countries.
This is because eradicating poverty is an important agenda in sustainable development everywhere.
This explains why, under the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, ending poverty is goal No. 1.
Although Felda has proven to be a successful poverty reduction mechanism in rural development, the road to success has not been without its share of challenges.
In its early days, it was not easy to persuade folks from rural areas to leave their laid-back life in villages to move to a plot of unchartered land to practise sound agriculture.
Each family was given 4ha of land to grow an economic crop and an extra acre or so to build a house, with some extra space to plant food and other subsistence crops.
Not a few, unsurprisingly, gave up halfway. But many persisted, hoping for a life better than what they had been used to.
And through the dogged persistence of the managerial staff as well, the end game proved worthy of the struggle.
Yes, a lot of credit must surely go to the management of Felda then. They were a breed of professionals bent on making sure the Felda experiment succeeded.
From some of their anecdotes, it is clear theirs was a struggle which could easily have discouraged the softhearted.
Clearing the raw jungle was one. But making sure the crops survived to yield enough fruits was an even bigger challenge.
Next was to create a robust market for the produce.
Both oil palm and natural rubber were the crops selected then.
Nowadays, the oil palm dominates. Building processing factories for both was part and parcel of the market agenda.
Thanks to their do-or-die spirit, the rest is history.
Felda passed the experiment with flying colours.
According to Tan Sri Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali, one of the leading management figures then, they even settled the World Bank loan taken to develop Felda way before the due date.
And with a healthy reserve to spare. Those must have counted as the glory days of Felda.
Unfortunately, lately, things have not been well at Felda.
According to analysts, much of the declining performance has to do with poor investments.
Instead of diversifying into a myriad of portfolios, many of which have no direct relation to its core business of plantations, experts have opined that Felda should stay focused on plantation.
In fact, there are many areas of the plantation business which can do with some improvement.
One often cited is the relatively lower palm oil yield compared with other plantation groups.
This lower yield is mainly attributed to poor agronomic management, as well as poor oil extraction rates in the mills.
The appointment of Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor as the new Felda chairman is seen by many as bringing renewed hope to Felda.
With his vast managerial experience, not only in the oil and gas sector, but also in the banking industry, there is much that he can do to reinvigorate Felda.
He comes at a time when the plantation industry has to grapple with many market issues. The current low price is one.
But the more complicated issue has to do with the growing call by the world palm oil trade to demonstrate more commitment to sustainable practices.
No doubt Megat Zaharuddin has a lot on his plate. He may have to bring in a new approach to tackle such issues.
PROFESSOR DATUK DR AHMAD IBRAHIM
Fellow, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UCSI University