Detail

Malaysia

Oilseeds, oils and meals

Oil palm

01/04/2019

Production

Production support

Established a soft loan fund tasked with assisting smallholders in replacing their unproductive oil palms with higher-yielding plantlets. The measure reflects concerns that the prevailing depression in palm oil prices could slow down routine replanting operations among smallholder producers.

The Federal Government set up a soft loan fund worth MYR 550 million (USD 134 million) to help smallholders replant their unproductive oil palms. Under the scheme, smallholders that replace old palms with higher-yielding plantlets will have access to loans bearing interest rates of 2 percent. The measure reflects concerns that the current depression in palm oil prices could slow down replanting activities among small producers. Malaysian smallholders benefitted from replanting incentives also in past years (see MPPU Jan.’13, June’14 & Oct.’15).