Malaysian Palm Oil Industry Performance During Epidemic Covid 19

Abstract

The epidemic of Covid-19 has a significant impact on demand for vegetable oils, especially palm oil. On a worldwide scale, numerous countries have implemented lockdowns, resulting in the closure of businesses, including the transportation and food industry. Malaysian palm oil industry is primarily reliant on manual labour. Due to total lockdown, workers have suffered many kinds of impacts that affected significantly on the production of palm oil in Malaysia. It also causes the supply chain of palm oil to be disrupted and having a shortage. Hence, current research aims to review the performance of the Malaysian palm oil industry during the epidemic. This research also identifies the impact of epidemic Covid 19 on the Malaysian palm oil industry. This research may help agencies and parties related to the Malaysian palm oil industry to overview and plan the industry sustainability.

Exploration of the Challenges in Adopting Smart Farming Among Smallholder Farmers: A Qualitative Study

“…The common issue during that time was the shortage of labour, especially in the oil palm sector. As Malaysia's agriculture sector, especially in plantations is heavily dependent on foreign labour, the MCO that occurred has negatively affected the labour market and the entry of foreign workers, resulting in a labour shortage [12,13]. The pandemic also caused interference in the international trade of agri-food products, and food security has become a concern because Malaysia heavily relies on imported food supplies, such as rice, wheat, vegetables, and fruits [14].…”