Home eBook Land development schemes in Peninsular Malaysia: a study of benefits and costs

Land development schemes in Peninsular Malaysia: a study of benefits and costs

Land development by the public sector is one of the major means of raising rural standards of living and of narrowing the economic imbalance between the races in Malaysia. However, the selection of appropriate strategies and their modus operandi have been a matter of considerable dispute, largely because of disagreement over their economic performance and their capacity for generating employment, A grave problem faced by planners in evaluating present strategies and in formulating future ones is the paucity of facts and, more important, the lack of in-depth analyses on some of these key issues, especially in respect of the level and adequacy of income earned by the smallholder-families involved in different types of rural development. It is the object of this book, using original data secured through extensive fieldwork, to assess the relative merits of the three main types of land development, i.e. Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), State and Fringe Alienation Schemes. This assessment, which is primarily based on twenty specially selected schemes and a sample survey of over 760 settlers, is made from the commercial, social and settlers’ viewpoints.