ABSTRACT:
This article attempts to estimate workforce, labour shortage as well as land to labour ratio by job category in oil palm nursery sector in Malaysia since labour is a major concerns in the oil palm industry especially in oil palm nursery and plantation. Survey technique was used for data collection. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to 739 oil palm nurseries in Malaysia which registered with MPOB. Total labour requirement and shortage according to job categories namely manager, assistant manager, clerk, supervisor, operator and general worker were identified. Operator with the job scopes of planting seedlings in polybags, spraying insecticide, fertilising and watering the plant was the highest labour required by oil palm nursery. The second highest number of workers required falls under the general worker such as driver, co-driver and others. In Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, operators and general worker were dominated by foreign workers, meanwhile in Sarawak only job category as operator is dominated by foreign workers. As in oil palm plantation sector, oil palm nursery also faces labour shortage problem especially for job category such as operator and general worker
Keywords: oil palm nursery, labour, shortage, land-labour ratio
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