Marcop to enhance labour efficiency in dealing with palm oil labour shortage said DPM
18/09/2023 (The Malaysian Reserve) - The Malaysia Palm Oil Berhad’s (MPOB) Mechanisation and Automation Research Consortium of Oil Palm (MARCOP) aims to raise the labour-to-land ratio to 1:25 (one person to cover 25 hectares) from 1:9 currently to sort the labour shortage in the industry.
Plantation and Commodity Minister Datuk Seri Fadhilah Yusof (picture) said the move would allow more efficient palm harvesting and be able to cut down the time and wastage currently plaguing Malaysia’s palm oil plantation.
“The spike of the ratio can be obtained if the harvesting technology and didn’t depend on the conventional method, which is the harvest pole (galah menuai).
“The potential for the locals to be involved as the palm … is higher with the introduction of the right technology to improve the work productivity and people’s income.
“At this moment, the acceptable mechanisation instrument by the industry is the harvesting machine called Cantas, which is lighter than the previous instrument,” he said during the winding up speech of the Mid-term review of the 12 Malaysian Plan (12MP) at Dewan Rakyat.
Fadilah was responding to Bakri Jamaluddin (PN-Tangga Batu) requested for clarification as Marcorp received RM30 million geran padanan mof and industry.
The Petra Jaya MP said with the new technology including drones, it could improve 40% of the productivity compared to the conventional method.
Previously, Fadilah — who is also Deputy Prime Minister II said the shortage of 63,000 foreign workers in the palm oil sector severely affected yield and saw Malaysia lose out on an estimated RM20 billion in revenue last year.