Why better to let plantations operate
Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA) members have contended that allowing oil palm plantations to resume operations could actually help to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah.
SANDAKAN: Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA) members said they could help contain the Covid-19 pandemic in oil palm plantations by resuming operations.
MEOA president Jeffrey Ong yesterday implored the State government to review the impact of closing oil palm plantations and consider the association’s appeal to reinstate the operations of plantations in the affected areas.
“In doing so, the oil palm plantation industry can play a constructive part to fight the Covid-19 and quicken end of this pandemic,” Ong said.
He said the State Government’s decision to close oil palm estates and mills in six districts in Sabah until April 14 could potentially cause an exodus; tens of thousands of plantation foreign workers would leave the estate to look for other jobs.
“As majority of the foreign workers are economic migrants, they will migrate to where there are employment opportunities.
“With no jobs and no income (due to closure of oil palm estates and mills), the dissatisfaction among the workers will boil over, and ultimately to avoid chaos and riots, the planters may have no choice but to remove the voluntary lockdowns in plantations and allow the workers to leave their estates.
“The foreign workers will be looking for jobs in other districts in Sabah during this period, or try to return to their respective countries. The planters will not be able to stop them from moving out.
“On the plantation and agriculture sectors, there is always a shortage of experienced workers. During the period without work, with low or no income, there will be job offers from contractors’ agents. Thus, the foreign workers will leave together with their dependents and group members.
“There will be an exodus of economic migrants. Although the main roads are policed - the internal roads will be the conduit for the migrating workers to travel and transit at friends’ houses in various estates, until they reach their final destinations.
“The workers’ final destinations may not necessarily be plantations. It could be other agricultural farms or even work sites in the towns. They will mingle with many people.
“It will be an arduous task to locate them once they blend into their new surroundings. They will not be wearing protective gears. This is hardly in line with the government’s concept of social distancing,” Ong explained.
He said that MEOA had a more effective way to control the spread of Covid-19; through its own Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of voluntary lockdowns of plantations.
“MEOA is aware and is seriously concerned that the Covid-19 disease can be spread to and through the plantation workers, and thus have already taken stringent proactive actions. We realise it is our civic duty to ensure that our workers do not mix with others nor be allowed out of the estate, in accordance with the MCO (Movement Control Order).
“MEOA plantations have already rolled out their SOP of voluntary lockdowns of plantations. We have also proposed to the Minister of Plantation Industry that any plantations, mills or collection centres affected by Covid-19 are mandatory to be locked down, to be cleaned, disinfected and monitored. However, other estates that have not had any cases of infection can and should be allowed to carry on with their operations,” he said.
On another note, Ong said the Government must also consider that many smallholders and midsized growers who do not have the economies of scale are not in any position to pay their workers even the minimum rate.
“In the period from the end of 2018 to the end of 2019, the prices of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) were at the lowest in the last 15 years. For 2019, many companies and growers reported financial losses. As we started 2020, the price of CPO (Crude Palm Oil) went up and correspondingly, the price of FFB.
“However, from November 2019 to March 2020, the heavy monsoon rains had seriously interrupted work, resulting in less harvesting days and coupled with the normal low cropping trend for the first half of the year, oil palm crops harvested were low.
“In short, even with the high prices, whatever was harvested was not enough to cover the costs of production. Thus, many are resorting to use the cash reserves or savings from 2018 to cover 2019.
“With the notice of closure coming into effect on March 25, this year, and now extended to the April 14, it leaves us without income. Many of the smallholders and mid-sized planters will not have the finance or the cash flow to pay salaries,” he explained.
Meanwhile, MEOA immediate past president, Joseph Tek, said the social aspects arising from the directive to shut down oil palm estates and mills have become nightmares of many experienced planters.
“Large numbers of jobless plantation foreign workers numbering tens of thousands, may end up leaving their plantations looking for job opportunities elsewhere or wandering out for other purposes.
“If they are not on the move and remain clustered in close proximity in their houses or linesites without work or income, growing restlessness among them will entail unhealthy activities - including gambling and consuming alcohol, which may result in workers’ unrest and higher crime rates.
“The even greater fear is of uncontrolled groups of plantation workers on the move who would be very much better controlled by management if they are gainfully working within the confines of controlled areas in the plantations.
“We may even see a migration of workers, mostly without protective gears, from the affected districts to elsewhere and they don’t travel on the roads but through connected plantations.
“There will movements of workers without the authorities realizing and along the way, they may even stay with their friends or in villages. Should they encounter any carriers of Covid-19 virus, it will cause the spread and the spread would be quick and very silent. Thus, any cluster or groups of people who are moving around out of control are much more dangerous for the entire state. The risks are just too great,” Tek said.
He said that in a way, plantations with its large landscape are potentially serving as voluntary quarantine centres, with gainfully employed workers working within the confines of the large landscape in the plantation.
“Following MEOA’s release of its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for prevention and mitigation of transmission of Covid-19 for the growers in estates, another set of SOP as a guideline for palm oil mills and kernel crushing plants was also rolled out. Implementing the SOPs is still the most effective answer to prevent and mitigate Covid-19 in plantation operations.
“We appreciate that the State has the best intentions and is doing its utmost best to address Covid-19 and to save lives, but respectfully, the State needs to appreciate that dealing with plantation social-aspects involving foreign workers can be a totally different ball game from the norm - as plantations are not in any confined factory or buildings and the numbers of workers run into tens of thousands.
“To put into perspective, Singapore is 72,000 hectares and you can see how they are managing the Covid-19 situation with their resources. Sabah’s planted oil palm area alone of 1.544 million hectares is almost 21 times of the size of Singapore. It would be an arduous task for the government and the security forces to secure the large landscape as the connective plantation roads would be their passage ways to move around.
“The foreign workers will be travelling through vast swaths of oil palm land which cannot be controlled nor monitored 24/7 by any authorities. If any guest workers are infected, it will spread very quickly and silently.
“Hence, MEOA opined that the planters can better contain the spread and starve the Covid-19 virus by continuing the plantation operations rather than curbing them,” Tek concluded.