The Impacts and Opportunities of SALCRA Plantation to the Landowner’s Socio-Economic and Labour Supply: A Case Study of SALCRA Estates in Saratok District

• Published in: Journal of Optimization in Industrial Engineering
• Main Author: Ibil E.S.; Mong S.G.; Ikau R.; Ejau R.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Qazvin Islamic Azad University 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85164835685&doi=10.22094%2fJOIE.2023.1980003.2041&partnerID=40&md5=9d3431f256771f23037de6c91267b8dd

Plantation agriculture remains an important sector of the Malaysian economy. However, it faces problems of labour supply especially from the local participation, which led to the recruitment of foreign labourers. This study, therefore, attempts to assess the degree of local labour participation in the plantation sector based on the case study of landowners who participated in SALCRA‟s plantations at Roban-South and Saratok oil palm estates in the Saratok District, Sarawak. Data for the study were collected mainly through face-to-face interviews using an interview schedule. The study revealed that 35.14% of the respondents or landowners‟ households supply labour to the plantations. Landowners‟ labour participation in SALCRA plantations is influenced by the household size and land participating in SALCRA plantations. A two-stage cluster random sampling was used to select the respondents. As the sample of the study is small and confined to only two states, its significance is only to provide an insightful understanding of local labour supply characteristics of the Roban-South and Saratok oil palm estates and cannot be taken to reflect the whole of SALCRA. © 2023 Qazvin Islamic Azad University. All rights reserved.