Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the final distributable profits for 2022 payments would be made in stages from today to help reduce the burden of those celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

“The reason we are announcing (the total profits) here (is because) one of the biggest Felcra nationwide is in Negeri Sembilan.

“Insya-Allah, after this we await (the announcement by) Risda,” he said in his speech at the “Santunan Kasih Ramadan” event in Simpang Pertang, here.

The total amount was the result of 616 profitable projects, while the final payment’s quantum is influenced by the crude palm oil (CPO) price trends, agricultural input costs, and labour costs following the minimum wage adjustment enforced by the government.

Zahid, who is also the rural and regional development minister, said the total annual profit distribution of Felcra Bhd’s 2022 project participants had also soared to RM501,556,634 from RM475,207,280 in 2021, which is a 5.54% or RM26,349,354 increase.

The move would be able to help the participants undergo various entrepreneurship programmes and provide a lucrative side income to them.

At the event, Zahid also presented donations totalling RM86,000 to mosques and tahfiz centres around the Pertang state constituency and distributed “duit raya” to tahfiz students.