Turning to automation to ease foreign labour dependency

The future: Automation could benefit the palm oil industry in many ways, says Sng. — CHAN TAK KONG/The Star

THE palm oil industry is taking a long-term view towards resolving the root cause of the deep-seated foreign labour dependence issue by investing in automation, says Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) chairman Datuk Larry Sng.

In doing so, it is leveraging Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies with the aim of balancing cost, while improving the yield and efficiency in terms of harvesting.