The development of 402.33 hectares of oil palm plantations in Kampung Darat Air Hitam in Mukim Lepar, Pekan near here, by the Pahang Farmers Organisation (Pasfa) was carried out in accordance with the rules and laws set by the government.
Pasfa Board of Directors (BOD) chairman Datuk Zamri Yaakob said discussions were held with the relevant quarters, including the state government and the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA), and the necessary approvals were obtained, before proceeding with the group work.
According to Zamri, Pasfa applied for the land in 2013 and obtained the title in 2019 after paying RM1.2 million in land premiums.
"It is not easy to get the approvals. Many things are looked into by the agencies concerned before we are given the approval, but we obtained all the approvals before developing the land,” he told a press conference at the Pasfa Office here today.
Pasfa had called for the press conference following a call by environmental watchdog RimbaWatch for the environment department to revoke the approval of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the clearing of forests near indigenous customary land for a new palm oil project.
RimbaWatch said it had received reports that a company had already begun clearing peat swamp forests near Kampung Orang Asli Air Hitam and Tanjung Keruing in Pekan, Pahang.
Elaborating on the matter, Zamri said the project by Pasfa received EIA approval issued by the Department of Environment (DOE) on June 29, 2021, with the condition that the project must be developed according to the conditions set, like development to be carried out in stages.
It is to reduce the impact of river erosion and silting, in addition to requiring no open burning activities and land clearing as well as oil palm planting in the water zone.
In order to comply with the conditions, Zamri said, the planting work was done in phases where, so far, only 200 hectares of the area had been planted with palm oil.
He said Pasfa also borrowed from the National Farmers' Organisation (Nafas) to cover the cost of the project, with repayment scheduled to start in 2026.
As such, we cannot afford to delay the project implementation, he added.
Zamri denied claims that the project encroached into the Orang Asli area as the land given to Pasfa was located outside the Orang Asli village.
Instead, he claimed that some quarters had encroached into Pasfa’s land and a police report had been lodged,
Meanwhile, an environmental consultant Mohd Zikri Azmi, appointed by Pasfa to oversee its project, said the EIA approval did not only involve DOE, but also various agencies, including JAKOA, the Agriculture Department, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage and the Forestry Department.
"Regarding the peat swamp area, when preparing the EIA report, we referred to the land map of the Pekan District Agriculture Department and found that it is not a peat land area," he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency