Impact of COVID-19 on labour usage and the production of oil palm yield

Abstract The labour shortage induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly impacted oil palm cultivation, particularly in operations dependent on foreign workers for tasks like harvesting fresh fruit bunches (FFB). This resulted in disruptions, especially in plantations near the closed national border gates, leading to unharvested fruits left on trees and a subsequent decline in oil palm production. A study aimed at understanding the relationship between labour usage and the production of oil palm yield was conducted to assess these trends. Data from nine (9) oil palm fields in FELCRA Berhad Kawasan Panchor Merah, Terengganu, spanning from 2019 to 2023, were analysed to perform the descriptive statistics. Statistical Package for Social Science version 29 was employed to establish the relationship of the variables. The findings revealed dynamic fluctuations in labour usage, particularly in foreign labour, due to the pandemic that induced migrations to hometowns and created vacancies for local labour. However, despite an increase in local labourers in 2021, many lacked efficiencies in tasks like harvesting due to limited experience. Although a strong positive correlation between labour usage and oil palm production was observed (r (5) = .865, p = .0059), it was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level, supporting the null hypothesis. Therefore, the study recommends that FELCRA Berhad enhance industry automation and offer competitive wages to bolster local employment, thus ensuring the sustainable development of the oil palm industry.