Malaysian plantations in jeopardy

Malaysian plantations in jeopardy

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's oil palm, rubber and cocoa
plantations, already bogged down by an acute labor shortage, are
facing a new problem -- an aging workforce, a newspaper reported
yesterday.

Most workers are aged more than 40 while attempts to recruit
local youths to join the industry have failed, said United
Planting Association of Malaysia (UPAM) chief executive Abdul
Rahman Mohamed.

Despite improved amenities and wages, youths were shunning
plantation work for the bright lights in the cities which offered
jobs that were not "as back-breaking", Abdul Rahman was reported
saying by The Star daily.

There was a shortage of some 87,000 agricultural workers in
the country in 1994, the bulk of 42,000 whom were needed in the
oil palm sector, 10,000 in rubber estates and 35,000 in cocoa
plantations.

"The situation in the oil palm sector is really bad as apart
from manpower shortage there is also a lack of ready-made and
suitable equipment for harvesting," he added.

Abdul Rahman said the situation had forced the industry to
continue to rely on foreigners since 1977. He urged the
government for a faster approval of work permits for foreigners
to meet the shortfall.

Malaysia's rapid economic growth, averaging more than 8
percent yearly since 1988, has resulted in a severe labor crunch
in the plantations, construction and industrial sectors,
attracting an influx of foreign workers.

Foreign workers now number about two million of the country's
8.05 million workforce, the highest ratio of foreign labor to
local workforce in the region, officials said.

Of the two million foreigners, an estimated one million were
illegally hired mainly from the Philippines, Bangladesh,
Indonesia, India, Thailand, Pakistan and Burma, they said.

The government, which has said the number of illegal
immigrants has reached a critical stage, intensified its
crackdown to flush out such immigrants following the expiry of an
amnesty on January 31.