Felcra Bhd has been urged to undertake progressive rationalisation to deal with the fall in crude palm oil (CPO) prices and take advantage of economies of scale to find new business opportunities.

Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said Felcra should immediately undertake a paradigm shift and implement a new business model based on smart farming.

“The average CPO price for 2018 was RM2,237 per metric tonne, a decline of 20 percent from the average price in 2017 of RM2,800 per metric tonne,” he said in his keynote address at a session with Felcra participants in Kuala Lumpur today.

Azmin also stressed the interim dividend payout of RM27.59 million for 2019 to 46,922 participants nationwide should not put them and Felcra in a comfortable position.

“We should instead formulate a new proactive strategy to face current challenges, especially the fall in commodity prices,” he said.

Felcra was also urged to incorporate new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, drones and big data analytics to raise productivity.

These moves would reduce the dependence on foreign workers besides helping to reduce the impact of climate change and extreme weather, he noted.

- Bernama