Bingkor and Kandang Besar
The Bingkor scheme is located 10km from the Keningau town, the scheme is developed in parallel to another community palm oil project in Bingkor called ‘Kandang Besar’. This project is known as a target development in Keningau District where the community is being formed by clustered smallholders concentrated on idle land. It stretches from Mukim Bingkor in Keningau to a small area in Tenom District where palm oil has been cultivated since 1992. There are 109 landowners from nine villages in Bingkor Estate. The concept of a clustered smallholder project was jointly agreed by the SLDB and the participants with a joint venture agreement that gives the mandate to the SLDB to carry out the development work in Bingkor.
Opening an oil palm plantation in Kandang Besar is pioneered by a former Bingkor assemblyman who formed a registered Cooperative Body. The Kandang Besar Cooperative body requested the SLDB to develop an area in Kandang Besar for oil palm in 1999. The area was originally a grazing reserve of 192 hectare belonged to ten surrounding villages which later merged into six villages. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the SLDB and Kandang Besar Cooperative Body was signed in early 1999. The SLDB began to open the area in December 1999 and completed the earthwork in September 2001. Currently, the joint venture arrangement with the Kandang Besar Cooperative operates with 1188 members.