Rebrand designation in palm oil industry to woo more youths – Academician

KUALA LUMPUR: What’s in a name? Well, plenty, apparently, says an academician.

For one thing, rebranding harvesters and general workers in the oil palm plantation as “production operators” and “maintenance operators”, respectively, could help to woo more local youths to work in the plantation sector.

“This is especially to attract those with a family background in the Federal Land Development Authority, Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority, and Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority, for example”, University Malaysia Kelantan’s Agrobased Industry Faculty lecturer Professor Dr Mohammad Amizi Ayob told Bernama.

He said that the difficult, dangerous, dirty and demeaning perception of the job nature and its social status has led to many local youths being discouraged from taking on employment in oil palm plantations by their friends and family members.

However, those factors may not be the main deterrents for youths in choosing to work in the sector.

“We have read stories about Malaysians who have worked in Australia’s orchard farms, who are faced with difficult, dangerous and dirty jobs … but the attractive salaries (due to the foreign exchange rate) entices them to work there.

“They don’t mind working there even though they realise that they need to pay for their own rent and transport fees, unlike working here (in the local plantations) where almost everything is provided for.

“This is simply because they love the money and, of course, the new environment,” Mohammad Amizi said.

On that note, the academician urged the local industry players to consider giving more attractive wages and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) monthly contribution rates, as well as better basic facilities and infrastructure.

These are some of the main factors which can make oil palm plantations more appealing to local youths, he said.

“Currently, plantation workers are getting EPF but it needs to be more attractive and more competitive than other sectors; wages need to be revised too to be more competitive with other sectors such as manufacturing.

“There are companies that provide their employees with a 15 per cent EPF contribution, more than the 11 per cent contribution practiced by other companies,” Mohammad Amizi said.

Meanwhile, he also suggested for the industry to provide uniforms for the workers and upgrade the workers from unskilled to semi-skilled.

The academician also urged the government and industry players to create awareness among local youths about jobs in oil palm plantations.

“Advertise more frequently in the mass media to attract local youths to work in plantations,” he added. -Bernama