The Malaysian Palm Oil Association says the bulk of the plantation workforce comprises foreigners.
While the sector managed to retain workers during the movement control order period, he said more workers could leave post-lockdown. Nageeb said palm oil yields had also stagnated, partly due to the shortage of workers but also because of other variables such as erratic weather and degrading soil quality.
“All this while, the industry has been able to survive because we know there’s an availability of workers. If locals don’t want , it’s fine, we have foreign workers. We are overly reliant,” he said.