Cameron Highlands's farmers need foreign workers

MP: Cameron's farmers need foreign workers
Monday May 10, 2010

IPOH: The multi-million ringgit farming industry in Cameron Highlands is under threat due to the Government's ruling restricting the hiring of foreign workers, said Cameron Highlands MP Datuk S.K. Devamany.

Devamany, who is Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said that unless an exemption was allowed for farmers there to hire foreign help, the highlands could very well lose its status as the country's main food provider and exporter.

He claimed that farmers in Cameron Highlands were now experiencing a shortage of nearly 2,000 workers with the Government's move to reduce the number of foreign workers from 2.5 million to 1.8 million.

"We welcome the policy as we cannot allow our country to be overrun with foreigners.

"But we cannot totally dismantle a policy as it can be disruptive to certain industries," he told reporters here yesterday, adding that the farming industry in Cameron Highlands catered to a niche market.

"It grows 40% of our vegetables, strawberries - which cannot be grown elsewhere in the country - tea and flowers for both the local and export markets.

"We do not want all these products to be brought into the country," he said, adding that this would then lead to more imports.

Devamany, who recently met 28 farmer associations in Cameron Highlands, said farmers there required some 6,000 workers at any one time.

He said the farms were also losing foreign workers to other countries like the Netherlands, Japan and Taiwan after having trained them in computer technology and agricultural expertise.

"To produce vegetables, flowers and tea in a temperate climate, we need people trained for a minimum of two years in fertigation, fertilisation and pesticide application," he added.

He also said local workers were not used to the living and working conditions in the highlands. -- The Star