Azman i – OPIEJ https://opiej.mpob.gov.my Oil Palm Industry Economic Journal Thu, 21 Mar 2019 02:17:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 Labour Requirements in the Independent Oil Palm Smallholder Sector in Peninsular Malaysia https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/labour-requirements-in-the-independent-oil-palm-smallholder-sector-in-peninsular-malaysia/ Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:40:58 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=420 Read more]]> The Malaysian oil palm industry is labour-intensive, especially in the plantations. Activities such as harvesting and fresh fruit bunch (FFB) collection require more labour than the other activities. Currently, estate owners including independent smallholders report that they are facing labour shortages for those afore mentioned activities in particular. This study aims to estimate the labour requirements and shortage in the independent oil palm smallholder sector in Peninsular Malaysia, and to formulate a solution for reducing the labour shortage problem. For data collection, face-to-face interviews using close-ended questionnaires were employed, involving a total of 385 independent smallholders throughout Peninsular Malaysia who were randomly selected. The study found that, on average, the age of the respondents was 58 years and 92% of the respondents hired workers for harvesting and FFB collection. The majority of the workers (65%) were foreigners, mostly from Indonesia. Total labour and labour shortage for harvesting and FFB collection operations in the independent oil palm smallholders sector in Peninsular Malaysia are estimated at 25 014 and 3715 respectively. In order to reduce the dependency on foreign workers and labour shortage problem, graduates from ‘Kursus Operasi Mekanisasi Ladang’ organised by MPOB should be encouraged to be contractors, so that they can manage the independent smallholders, especially for harvesting and FFB collection. For that, the government can provide incentives in the form of soft loans or discounts to enable them to purchase harvesting tools and evacuation machines at a lower price.

Keywords: independent smallholders, labour requirement, labour shortage, foreign workers

]]> Labour Productivity in the Malaysian Oil Palm Plantation Sector https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/labour-productivity-in-the-malaysian-oil-palm-plantation-sector/ Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:08:43 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=364 Read more]]> This study attempts to measure oil palm labour productivity based on land-labour ratio by job category, region and estate size; and based on output-labour ratio by job category and region. It culminates by suggesting action plans for improving labour productivity and reducing labour requirement. Primary data collected through an online survey were used in the study, while the calculation of labour productivity was done using Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS. From the study, it was found that the ideal land-labour ratio for oil palm plantations in Malaysia is 10:1. Currently, the ratio set by the government for oil palm estates hiring foreign workers is 8:1 (i.e. 8 ha to one worker). To reduce the number of foreign workers in oil palm plantations, the current ratio needs to be increased from 8:1 to 10:1. To increase labour productivity, it is suggested that estate owners practise mechanisation, especially for harvesting (when palm height is less than 8 m) and in-field collection of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). By using a motorised cutter for harvesting, productivity per worker can be increased from 0.99 t per day to 2.24 t per day. For in-field collection, a mechanised FFB transport system (MFTS) can reduce the required number of workers and lower the cost of transportation as well as cost of production.

Keywords: labour, productivity, land-labour ration, output-labour ratio, mechanisation

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