Homestay programme at Bidayuh Muslim village a big hit

by Johnson K Saai. Posted on November 8, 2011, Tuesday

FOR THE ALBUM: Aaron (standing sixth left) in a group photograph with the longhouse folk.

KUCHING: The Kampung Darul Islam Belimbing homestay programme received around 3,000 visitors so far and this was a good sign, the village homestay project secretary Musa Mohd Syaid revealed yesterday.

Without providing statistics, he said the volume of visitors had been growing annually since it was launched in 2008.

“One interesting thing is when those who come to experience our homestay programme are not only locals but also foreigners, including those from European countries,” he said.

Met during the slaughtering and distribution of sacrificial cows at Kampung Darul Islam Belimbing, one of the few Bidayuh Muslim settlements in Padawan, Musa told The Borneo Post that as of now 22 families in the village were participating in the homestay programme.

“This homestay programme is one of the socio-economic activities introduced by Felcra Bhd to participants of its oil palm plantation project within the Belimbing area.

“In fact, Felcra is not just bringing in oil palm but many other socio-economic activities as well, and homestay is just part of it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Felcra Belimbing oil palm area manager Mohd Yusof Mansor said the acreage of the plantation under Belimbing still remained at 2,300 hectares.

He said the there was no way to expand the acreage due to an unsuitable geographical factor.

“Expansion is impossible in view of the land condition, where most of the areas are very steep and to develop such areas requires very big cost.  The land is just not suitable,” he pointed out.

He said that Felcra Belimbing was developed since 1996 with nine projects and began production four years later.

It involves 1,031 participants from six villages namely Kampung Gayu, Subang, Timurang, Belimbing (three projects), Semeru and Anah Rayang.

According to Felcra Sarawak Region social executive Mohd Anuar Hanip, the main objective of Felcra was to uplift the living standard of the society, especially those participating in its projects.

“Among them is providing easy loan to interested participants for them to venture in other small scale businesses such as poultry breeding and farming which is interest free,” he explained.

Resource: Borneo Post Online.