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To live up to this, our key priorities

include:

Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Conservation areas

Within our estates, areas alongside

river banks (riparian reserves) are set

aside as conservation areas wildlife

corridors which include, among others,

sanctuaries for migratory birds and

habitat for jungle flora and fauna.

Soil Management.

We adopt best agricultural practices,

planting cover crops such as Mucuna

bracteata, Calopogonium mucunoides

and Calopogonium coeruleum, alone

or in combination, to boost surface

properties and minimise carbon

dioxide emissions. Vetiver grass is a

deep-rooted grass noted for its strong

resistance of heavy metals, phosphates,

nitrates and agricultural chemicals.

It has been cultivated in wetlands,

bundles and field drain to reduce

deforestation and avoid landslides.

Also, no planting is carried out in steep

regions, i.e. those with a slope of more

than 20 degrees. Another method in soil

management and slope is the planting

of Mucuna bracteata, which is an

Indian leguminous plant. We are highly

successful in reducing soil erosion and

improving soil quality by natural soil

fertilisation and aeration process. The

nitrogen-regulating properties help

maintain soil temperatures down during

hot seasons. We value its fast-growing

characteristics that allow rapid ground

cover and help suppress weed growth.

Lastly, our estate has carried into

practice sustainable land applications

that are aligned with our zero-waste

approach. The FFB which has been

harvested and sent to the mill for

processing will end up as Empty Fruit

Bunch (“EFB”) that is used by applying

directly to the field. In addition,

compost can be produced from a

mixture of shredded EFB and Palm

Oil Mill Effluent (“POME”) which is

subsequently added to the plot. Such

activities help to provide an ecological

supply of nutrients and reduce our

reliance on inorganic substances.

Biological controls against pests

Beneficial plants such as Turnera

Subulata, Antigonan Leptopus and

Cassia Cobanensis are cultivated

to lure leaf insect predators. These

predators feed on leaf pest larvae, thus

reducing the usage of pesticides. The

use of barn owls in our estates helps to

control the population of rodents, and

the placement of pheromone traps to

catch Rhinoceros beetles is one of the

Sustainability : Environment

strategies implemented and has proven

to be effective.

Managing Human-Elephant Conflicts

Several of our estates have encountered

incidences of elephant encroachment

into their areas culminating in crops

and property damage. In this regard,

we are continuously looking at ways to

find solutions which include monitoring

elephant movements, restoring wildlife

corridor and building up trenches to

minimise further incidences of crop-

raiding and damage to the extent

possible while at the same time

preserving the elephants’ natural habitat.

During the year, Cendana Laksana

Sdn Bhd together with 8 other

estates from 3 nearby localities,

had facilitated the establishment

of an Elephant Conflict Task Force.

The main objective of the Task

Force is to find workable solutions

to mitigate the economic impact

of crop loss to elephants whilst

maintaining the biodiversity of the

ecosystems they inhabit. These

include, inter alia, understanding

the local ecology, monitoring and

recording the movement pattern

of elephants in the affected

areas and co-ordination of other

activities by and amongst the task

force members.

Addressing the elephant in the room

“Managing the human-elephant

conflict is as much about

protecting our estates from crop-

raiding elephants as it is about

reducing our footprint on the

elephant’s habitats and corridors.

We have these taken into account

through inter alia, our land use

planning, improving their habitats

to increase their natural feed

availability (by planting crops that

elephants like e.g. bananas) which

in turn can keep them away from

encroaching on human areas. I

believe that these measures can

allow both to peacefully co-exist.”

Mohd Rashidi Mohd Yazid

Estate Manager, Ladang Cendana

Spotlight Story

kumpulan Fima Berhad

(197201000167)(11817-V)

Annual Report 2020

61