More than 1,000 hectares of idle land rehabilitated in Terengganu

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu government has rehabilitated more than 1,000 of the 8,000 hectares of idle land in the state with various agricultural projects since 2008 said State Agriculture, Food Industry, Plantation, Commodity and Rural Development Committee chairman Dr Azman Ibrahim.

He said the success made Terengganu ranked second among other states in the country in the effort to rehabilitate idle land last year.

"We are in second place after Pahang. In fact, Terengganu is the only state that has its own allocation, of RM1 million a year, for programme to develop idle land.

"This allocation is channelled to build infrastructure facilities on the land such as perimeter fencing, drainage systems and for clearing, involving RM20,000 per hectare," he said after breaking fast with the media here last night.

He said the idle land either belonged to individuals or companies and had not been developed for three consecutive years.

Meanwhile, Azman said the state government had applied to the federal government to provide additional allocation for the Terengganu Agricultural Disaster Fund as the existing allocation of RM1 million had been disbursed to more than 600 farmers, breeders and cage fish operators affected by the floods last February.

"The fund is provided an allocation of RM1 million a year, but the losses due to the recent floods was huge, involving RM12.9 million.

"Therefore, we have submitted an application to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, as well as the state executive council so that the additional allocation can be used this year," he added.

-- BERNAMA