THE government must lead the way to help the oil palm industry automate harvesting if it wants to cut the use of foreign labour, said Wong Shu Qi (Kluang-PH).

“Forty per cent of the labour used in oil palm farming is in fertilising, while another 60% is in harvesting,” said Wong during the 12th Malaysia Plan debate in the Dewan Rakyat today.

“While the use of geospatial systems can help profile the data in detail, it will only reduce the labour needed for fertilising the trees.

“As the second biggest oil palm producers in the world, Malaysia must take the lead in finding ways to automate the harvesting process,” she said.

The industry’s reliance on foreign labour will continue as long as Malaysia does not come up with a way to automate the harvesting process, Wong said.

The public accounts committee member was speaking on the need to reduce Malaysia’s reliance on foreign labour as part of 12MP. 

She said the oil palm industry’s over reliance on foreign labour was highlighted during the movement control order when Malaysia froze new foreign labour hires.

“Even though the crude oil palm price was high, many oil palm smallholders lost money because they could not get enough foreign labourers.” – September 29, 2021.