PUTRAJAYA, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- The oil palm industry has to push for theadoption of mechanisation to increase productivity while decreasing thenumber of manpower, particularly in the importation of foreign workers.

Speakers from Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Wednesday said the time hascome for some form of mechanisation standard to be introduced.

In a joint paper, director general of MPOB Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron, DrAhmad Hitam, Dr Ariffin Darus, Dr Mohd Basri Wahid, Dr Cham K W and AbdulRahim Shuib said plantations that have successfully introducedmechanization in suitable areas have the advantage of reducing labourdependence.

"Importation of foreign workers must remain a short-term measure," theysaid in a paper titled "Development of Mechanisation Standard andBenchmark for Labour Efficiency in Palm Oil Plantation", at theInternational Palm Oil Conference here today.

They added that the industry would have to plan and take the necessaryaction before any shortage of foreign workers happens due to Governmentrestrictions or when they are not suitable for the job required.

"Mechanisation has to be introduced in stages. In the current situation,oil palm estates must develop machines to suit the present technologiesavailable," he said.

The degree of success in mechanisation would however depend very much onthe committment of people involved in the exercise, they said.

"In areas where mechanisation is already successful, one has to evaluateby optimising the present system and to increase the workers efficiency."

Another key point, was that estates must be prepared to spend initialcosts on the machines and accept a slight drop of productivity during thelearning curve period.

At the same time, managers trying to introduce mechanisation should not bepenalised for spending a little more on capital asset and not being ableto achieve the monthly target in their initial year of introduction.

They added that benchmarking was also necessary as to check on the levelthey are when compared with targets and how further improvement could bemade.

"Two factors are necessary to be considered: standard of mechanisation andefficiency of workers. The efficiency of the workers depends very much onthe standard of mechanisation introduced and the incentives gained by theworkers," they added.

-- BERNAMA