Growing pains of oil palm smallholders
Nazir Sufari
Updated 1 year ago ·
Published on 30 Jul 2022 7:47AM ·
ABOUT 65,000 smallholders across the country are feeling the impact of a foreign labour shortage.
Most smallholders are elderly folk who employ foreign workers to manage their farms.
The lack of foreign labour in the plantations has affected the income of these folk, who need workers to harvest their crops.
To make matters worse, the shortage has caused wages to rise the same time the price of fresh palm oil bunches have dropped from RM700 to RM850 per metric tonne. – July 30, 2022.
A local worker loads a wagon with oil palms in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
Workers break for a meal at a warung in Parit Yusof in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
A dumper truck picks up fresh oil palm fruits bunches at the collection centre in Parit Yusof in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
An Indonesian worker loads oil palms onto a wagon in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
Smallholder Zainal Ridhuan rides his motorcycle to check on his workers doing maintenance and clean-up work at his oil palm farm in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
Meals are usually taken on the oil palm farms, which are usually located in remote locations. – The Malaysian Insight pic Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
Malaysia accounts for 25.8% and 34.3% of the world's palm oil production and exports, respectively. – The Malaysian Insight pic Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
A local worker harvests oil palms at a farm in Parit Yusof in Batu Pahat, Johor. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
There's a lot of work to be done on an oil palm farm and not enough workers to do it. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
Most smallholders are elderly folk who employ foreign workers to manage their farms. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, July 30, 2022.
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