Growers’ group wants to rope in more petty offenders from overcrowded prisons to do dirty and dangerous work as lockdown keeps foreign workers awayKuala Lumpur —
Producers of the tropical oil are reaching out to prison departments in search of locals for work in the palm industry that is considered dirty, difficult and dangerous, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a growers’ group that represents 40% of the palm-planted area in the country. Malaysian palm growers had employed convicts since 2016, Nageeb said, but the search was intensifying as the coronavirus worsened the labour shortage. Malaysia, the biggest grower after Indonesia, was already short of about 36,000 workers before the pandemic, he said. Now that had risen significantly, which meant the country might see up to a 30% loss in output.
The lack of workers has plagued Malaysian growers for years. Despite incentives such as free housing, electricity and social amenities, locals shun the labour-intensive process of harvesting palm fruit, pushing the industry to employ migrant workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh and India. Dependence on foreign labour is now more than 80%, according to Nageeb.