The project was proposed in view of the price increase in grain imports that has affected the economy, considering the heavy dependence on grain for chicken feed.
Otai Reformis secretary Abdul Razak Ismail said he believed the ad hoc nature of the project without long-term planning would later result in exploitation as the forest reserve would be stripped of its status.
“This is a ploy by the state government to degazette the forest reserve by coming up with the excuse that there’s an urgent need to provide chicken feed.
“However, when there is no longer a need (for emergency chicken feed), this corn cultivation project will be halted and the land status will be changed to commercial status for mixed development,” he said.
Otai Reformis said this was the state government’s second attempt at developing forest reserves with the excuse that there was an emergency.
It pointed out that the Selangor government had failed in its attempt to develop 536ha of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve for mixed development last year.
Razak said there were areas in Bestari Jaya that could be used for the project, such as mining land owned by a subsidiary of a government-linked company or the large piece of land in the Fruit Valley area.
“We are suspicious of the reason behind the state government’s insistence on using forest reserve land (for corn cultivation),” he said.
The group said it was also informed that as of Jan 21, the Selangor state development corporation (PKNS) had a land bank of 2,417ha which had not been used.
Bernama reported on May 18 that Selangor and Negeri Sembilan had been cooperating on corn cultivation to help increase the national supply of chicken.
Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari had said the corn cultivation project in south Kuala Langat and Gemas was estimated to reduce dependence on imports by 2% to 3%.
According to him, the RM3 million project between the Selangor agricultural development corporation (PKPS) and the Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan Inc was estimated to start in the third quarter of the year.