A review on post-COVID-19 impacts and opportunities of agri-food supply chain in Malaysia.

Background: Malaysia is strongly supported by the agriculture sector as the backbone to drive the economy. However, COVID-19 has significantly affected agriculture across the production, supply, and marketing chains. It also disturbs the balance of food supply and demand in Malaysia. COVID-19 was an unexpected pandemic that resulted in shock and panic and caused a huge global impact. However, the impacts of this pandemic on the agriculture sector in Malaysia, particularly in the production and supply chains, are still unclear and scarce. This review offers insights into the challenges, particularly in sustaining agri-food production and supply chains. It also highlights the opportunity and relevant measures towards sustainability in agriculture to avoid agri-food disasters in the future. Methods: This study was carried out through a desk review of the secondary source of information covering the impact of COVID-19 in Malaysia particularly in the agri-food aspect, and a wide range of strategies and initiatives as the effective measures to overcome the crisis of this pandemic. Online desk research of the government published data and customer desk research were utilized to complete this study. Search engines such as Google Scholar and the statistical data from the official websites including the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) and the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region (FFTC-AP), were utilized. Keywords such as impact of COVID-19, pandemic, and agri-food supply chain were used to conduct the searches. The articles identified to be related to the study's objective were then downloaded and included in the study. Descriptive methods were used as the primary analysis technique following the descriptive analysis and visual data analysis in performing the sources obtained. Results: This devastating impact damages the lives by causing 4.3 million confirmed infections and more than 290,000 deaths. This disease presents an unprecedented challenge to the public health. The lockdown restriction under the movement control order (MCO), for more than of the world's population in the year 2020 to control the virus from spreading, has disrupted most of the economic sectors. The agriculture industry was seen as one of the essential industries and allowed to operate under strict standard operating procedures (SOP). Working under strict regulations came with a huge price paid for almost all industries. Conclusion: This pandemic has affected the national agri-food availability and accessibility in Malaysia. This outbreak created a reflection of opportunity for sharing a more flexible approaches in handling emergencies on agricultural food production and supply chains. Therefore, the government should be ready with the roadmap and enforce the measures to control the pandemic without disrupting the agri-food supply chain in the near future.

Penglibatan dan Produkviti Buruh Tempatan dalam Industri Kelapa Sawit

Abstrak: Produktiviti merupakan faktor penting untuk memastikan output yang optimum. Dalam industri kelapa sawit, produktiviti buruh memainkan peranan penting untuk memastikan kelestrarian pengeluaran hasil kelapa sawit mencapai sasaran. Sarawak yang merupakan negeri utama penyumbang industri kelapa sawit di Malaysia terpaksa berhadapan dengan masalah kekurangan tenaga buruh yang serius. Pemberhentian buruh asing disebabkan oleh pandermik Covid 19 menjadikan isu buruh di Sarawak lebih parah. Penglibatan buruh tempatan diharapkan dapat menyelesaikan isu pemberhentian buruh asing. Namun begitu, rata-rata orang tem-patan kurang berminat untuk terlibat dalam sektor pertanian kelapa sawit. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk membin-cangkan penglibatan buruh tempatan dalam pertanian kelapa sawit dan juga strategi untuk meningkatkan produktiviti buruh tempatan. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kuantitatatif dan persampelan bertujuan dalam pengutipan data. Seramai 56 orang pekebun kecil kelapa sawit (PKS) yang mempunyai buruh tempatan telah dipilih. Hasil kajian menunjukkan, jenis buruh tempatan adalah ahli keluarga, sanak saudara dan buruh kam-pung. Mereka ini dibayar secara kontrak dan juga mengikut bilangan pokok kelapa sawit. Dari segi strategi untuk meningkatkan produkviti buruh, menggunakan pekerja yang berkemahiran, amalan pertanian baik, modal yang mencukupi, kemahiran menguruskan haiwan perosak dan penyakit tanaman, pengkhususan kerja, kerja berkumpulan serta memberikan ganjaran merupakan antara saranan yang dikemukan oleh PKS. Jika masalah ini tidak ditangani ia akan menjejaskan keseluruhan industri kelapa sawit khususnya di Sarawak me-mandangkan negeri ini merupakan antara penyumbang terbesar kelapa sawit negara. Jika kerajaan negeri dan persekutuan tidak dapat menyelesaikan isu kekurangan buruh dalam industri kelapa sawit, ia akan men-jejaskan seluruh industri kelapa sawit Malaysia.Alternate :Productivity is an essential factor in ensuring optimal output. In the oil palm industry, labour productivity is vital in ensuring that oil palm production reaches its target/production. Sarawak, a significant contributor to the oil palm industry in Malaysia, faces a severe labour shortage. The layoffs of foreign labour due to the Covid 19 pandemics made the labour issue in Sarawak even worse. The involvement of local labour is expected to resolve the decrease in foreign labour. However, local people have minimal interest in getting involved in the oil palm agriculture sector. This study aims to examine the involvement of local labour in oil palm and strategies to increase local labour productivity. This study uses quantitative methods and purposive sampling in data collection. A total of 56 oil palm smallholders (PKS) who have local labour were selected. The results showed the type of local labour are family members, relatives, and village labour. They are paid on a contract basis and according to the number of oil palm trees. In terms of strategies to increase labour productivity, employing skilled workers, good agricultural practices, adequate capital, skills in managing pests and crop diseases, job specialization, group work, and rewards are among the recommendations put forward by PKS. If this problem still occurs, it will affect the entire oil palm industry, especially in Sarawak, as the state is one of its most significant contributors to oil palm. If the local and federal governments cannot resolve labour shortage issue in the oil palm industry, it will affect Malaysia's entire oil palm industry.