The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) has allocated RM31.8 million as dividends for 8,697 rubber smallholders involved in the Cluster Replanting Programme (RTBB) and Commercial Replanting Programme (TSK) in Pahang.     

Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob reminded the smallholders to spend wisely and work harder to increase their income.     

"The government, through its agencies like Risda and the Rubber Research Institute, always carries out research to come up with new rubber clones to produce rubber trees which produce more and quality latex.     

"However, the effort will be meaningless if the smallholders do not adhere to Risda's advice and do not work to ensure that their rubber plantations are in good condition," he told reporters at a ceremony to present Risda's RTBB and TSK dividends for 2010 to Pahang smallholders in Bentong today.     

Adnan said RTBB and TSK participants should emulate the non-Malay smallholders who worked hard to make their plantations a success.     

 He said some of the Malay smallholders didn't even use fertiliser for their trees because they had sold the subsidised fertiliser to others.     

"This kind of attitude will only put them at a loss because their rubber trees will not be able to produce quality latex," he said.     

He said if the smallholders continued to be lazy, the government's efforts to uplift them from poverty or hardcore poverty would fail.     

- Bernama