KUCHING: Malaysia’s oil palm industry is set to register export earnings of RM103 billion by 2020, said Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said the industry, which has been experiencing steady growth over the years and possessed potential growth in the upstream and downstream sectors, had become a significant contributor to the nation’s economy.
“Last year, palm oil and palm-oil products contributed RM61.2 billion to the country’s export earnings.
“The National Commodities Policy (DKN) envisages export earnings from the industry to record RM103 billion by 2020,” he said when opening a seminar ‘Palm Industry Labour: Issues, Performance and Sustainability’ (Pilips 2014) organised by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) here yesterday.
“The industry has also contributed enormously towards addressing rural poverty and unemployment.”
On the seminar, he said the participants would have to answer a couple of questions, including ‘How can we encourage Malaysians to work at all levels in the entire production chain?’, ‘How to reduce dependency on labour especially foreign labour?’ and ‘How to attract more young people to work in the plantation, especially the upstream sector, which is very labour intensive’.
In terms of labour, he feared the industry would face further shortage with industrialisation and urbanisation continuing to take place as part of the country’s economic transformation process to achieve developed status by 2020.
The vast employment opportunities provided by such transformation would continue to attract a significant number of individuals, particularly the young, who preferred to work in the industrial and service sectors in urban areas, he said.
“This scenario will force the plantation sector to further rely on foreign labour.”
Quoting Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) former chief executive Datuk Mamat Salleh, he said: “In Malaysia, money grows on oil palm trees, but without harvesters the money will be just hanging up there.
“So, there is less revenue for local plantation companies and foregone export earnings for the country.”
Uggah added it was pertinent to ensure there would be enough harvesters in the near future.
“Especially in Sabah and Sarawak, bearing in mind the intense competition from Indonesia, who has been hitherto the largest supplier of foreign labour to Malaysia.
“At the same time, we must also ensure our locals are given greater opportunities to work at top and middle management level in both the upstream and downstream sectors.”
He thus hoped Pilips 2014 would come up with more innovative and practical approaches to resolve labour issues faced by industry players.
“We cannot afford to have a business as usual approach to resolve these issues. We need to have a strong determination and resolve to overcome these challenges.”
Among those present were MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May, MPOA chief executive Dato’ Dr Makhdzir Mardan and Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities deputy secretary-general Mohamad Sanuri Shahid.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/06/10/rm103-bln-in-export-earnings-from-oil-palm-by-2020/#ixzz34LQdyLC3
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