ACUTE labour shortage is threatening Cameron Highlands’ agricultural sector, which can lead to severe financial losses for farmers and rising vegetable prices.
Cameron Highlands Agricultural Cooperative Association representative Wong Seng Yee said the shortage was about 50 per cent, with at least a quarter of farmlands lying fallow.
*There you are Kris, employment in your favorite Highland, its cooler than Kuala Lumpur as well.
“The tight manpower situation has been ongoing for many years, but has never been this serious,” he told the New Sunday Times.
“Farmers are facing market failure and production problems, especially those who export their produce.
“The labour shortage delays harvest and replanting, thereby reducing yields, which means they are not able to meet their contractual obligations.”
He said the situation could lead to higher vegetable prices.
Cameron Highlands Malay Farmers Association president Datuk Syed Abdul Rahman said many farmers depended on manual labour due to geographical constraints.
Farmers were also unwilling to invest in technology as many of them, especially small-scale farmers, relied on temporary occupation leases (TOL) for the land they used.
The advancing age of some farmers left them with no choice but to depend on foreign workers because locals demanded higher wages, which farmers were unwilling to pay.
An unskilled foreign worker
is paid RM1,000 to RM1,100 a month to work in farms in Cameron Highlands, and if the worker was promoted to supervisory role, he could earn between RM2,000 and RM3,000.
Syed said>>
CREDIT: FERNANDO FONG and TASNIM LOKMAN, NEW STRAITS TIMES
