Farmers complain of being left high and dry when ‘partners’ refuse to buy produce as agreed earlier

KUCHING: Many local farmers are complaining of being cheated by unscrupulous parties who fail to keep their end of their deal in contract farming projects.

Area Farmers Organisation Kuching (PPK Kuching) chairman Sebi Masran, who revealed this yesterday, urged the state Agriculture Department to put a stop to such unethical practices before it got out of control.

“The offer usually covers all aspects from human resource development, technology, equipment supply, seeds, credit and buying back of produce,” he said at the organisation’s 22nd annual general meeting here.

“What’s giving us cause for concern is that those farmers who are said to have reaped benefits in the early stages are running into difficulty, such as the other party refusing to buy their produce.”

Sebi said many farmers had fallen into the trap of cultivating big areas of land but when they thought that their harvest would bring them much profit their so-called partners refused to buy their produce.

“This can be stopped if the Agriculture Department can help to properly evaluate and monitor these contracts before more farmers become victims,” Sebi said.

Other matters raised included project-based products, focusing on the trend among consumers and local demand for products like sauces, fruit juice and other farm-based products.

“We aim to buy a factory to pursue this goal. I hope that head office will help us by providing funds and expertise,” he said, adding that the government had allocated them a piece of land at Jalan Santubong.

“We intend to develop it as an administration and operation centre. And, in line with this, we want to form a committee that includes a representative from the head office to make sure it can be accomplished as soon as possible.”

Sebi also pointed out that nearly all area farmers’ organisations did not have licence for the open market.

“They cannot buy padi with coupons, sell rice wholesale, or participate in tenders. We recommend that application of relevant trade licences can be done in bulk to enable PPK all over Sarawak to operate like any other companies.”

Sebi also highlighted the fact that PPK did not have a reliable financial source to allow them to help members in need.

“We propose that the head office increase funding for us to enable our members take out simple loans or other forms of financial assistance, and that it also re-evaluate the welfare needs of members.

“This re-evaluation is important not just for the current members but for future employees.”

The organisation was established 22 years ago to look after the economic and social welfare of farmers. It had 4,500 members.

“We have to ask ourselves whether or not we’ve achieved this objective. What has PPK given to its members and what have its members brought to the organisation?”