JITRA – The relatively lucrative income for plantation workers, especially during the harvest period, is still not able to attract locals, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
As a result, she said, there is a shortage of workers, and this affects harvesting works especially on oil palm plantations.
“We do not have enough workers for the harvest period. Locals can do the job if they want to, but they say it is a heavy and difficult task.
“The salary of these farm workers is lucrative. It depends on the company; some pay a basic salary of RM1,200, and with incentives and overtime allowance, they can get more than RM2,000 a month,” she told reporters after visiting a kenaf seed processing centre in Bandar Darul Aman near here today.
To address the worker shortage, she said, the government recently decided to bring in 32,000 non-citizens to work in the plantation sector.
Zuraida said the entry of migrant workers need to be expedited to increase the country’s exports as commodity prices are increasing despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If we do not bring in migrant workers to harvest oil palm fruits, the fruits will be left to waste, and we will lose. Given the high commodity prices, we have to ‘catch up’, and smallholders will get more income.
“The price of palm oil is expected to increase by 40%, and this can give a return of about RM20 billion to the country before the end of the year.” – Bernama, October 16, 2021
