Felda settlers are grateful for the partial waiver of their legacy loans, as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday.

They said the move was timely as many were struggling to make ends meet.

National Felda Settlers head Sulong Jamil Mohamed Shariff said this move would ease the burden of settlers.

"This move is to help settlers and their descendants return to the original purpose of Felda's establishment. 

"This will motivate settlers to work harder," he said yesterday.

Sulong Jamil said Felda settlers needed to be proactive and put aside anything that could hinder success.

"Settlers can now focus on making Felda the best plantation scheme in the world, in line with the government's wishes."

Pertubuhan Satu Silaturahim Anak Felda chairman Mohammad Yahya Zakaria said the waiver was the result of appeals by previous generations of settlers.

"Waiving a portion of the loans would give settlers peace of mind, as they don't have to worry about unsettled debts while waiting for the next planting season."

He said waiving up to 80 per cent of the loans would see average monthly payments reduced from between RM800 and RM1,000 to between RM250 and RM300 for oil palm planters, and to as low as RM150 for rubber smallholders.

"More importantly, the debts would be settled before the next planting season."

On Felda Settlers' Day on Wednesday, Muhyiddin said the government had agreed in principle to partially waive RM8.3 billion of settlers' loans.

He said the move was part of efforts to adjust settlers' debts and help earlier generations who were successful in the land development programme.

Writing off loans is one of three prongs in the Restart, Revitalise and Reform strategy to revive Felda as one of the world's leading plantation companies.

Muhyiddin said the conditional loan disposals include a partial adjustment of RM8 billion in replanting loans (up to Dec 31, 2019) for 92,441 settlers, or 82 per cent of the 112,638 settlers.

Other debts to be relieved are RM168 million in fertiliser loan arrears for 52,180 settlers (46 per cent) and the full adjustment of RM78 million in FGV Holdings Bhd shares as of July 7, affecting 38,043 settlers.

A full adjustment of the original development loan balance amounting to RM56 million (as of Dec 31, 2019), would benefit 6,711 settlers (6 per cent).

Felda Malaysia Youth Council president Muhammad Fadzli Hassan said the debt waiver was much awaited as it would reduce the settlers' debts.

"Settlers can now heave a sigh of relief as the conditional loan adjustment would reduce the loan burden of each settler by an average of 80 per cent.

"The settlers need not carry forward their debts."

Felda Jengka 24 settler Zulmi Abd Rahman, 62, said the announcement was a gift for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidiladha.

"We are thankful for the partial debt waiver as settlers could stabilise their finances that were strained by debts and volatile palm oil prices."