IPOH: The formula of giving a 30-year land lease to 931 farmers in new villages in Perak will be used to legalise prawn and fish breeders in the state.

Announcing this at a press conference yesterday, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali said a lot of queries had come from other farmers in Perak after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently presented offer letters to the new villagers.

The Opposition had accused the Government of not doing anything for other farmers who illegally cultivated state land, he added.

“We will continue to legalise the farmers, including fish and prawn breeders, by leasing out the land to them,” he said.
Tajol Rosli explained that the 931 farmers at Coldstream and its surrounding areas had been given a 30-year land lease to continue farming and a similar formula had been used to resolve the land problems of farmers in Chemor and Kanthan who had to make way for the Perak Hi-Tech Park.

Perak MCA chief Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, who was also at the event, said the farm land were spread out all over the state and there was a need to identify their locations.

He said the party would use the Global Positioning System to help identify the locations and present the matter to the state government for approval.

source: The Star