He said oil palm estates, which are reliant on foreign workers, were facing a chronic labour shortage and that 50% of workers in plantations comprised harvesters.

“My idea is a little bit crazy. We can offer technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses to teach locals to be harvesters,” he said in a speech at the 2024 Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar.

He said there was a need for harvesting to be seen as a profession and this could help reduce the reliance on foreign workers.

Later, Johari told reporters that the palm oil industry was crucial to the economy, generating RM130 billion in exports alone.

“But the big problem is (the shortage of) workers. If we do not have enough workers, we cannot harvest (oil palm fruits),” he said, adding that during the pandemic, billions of ringgit worth of oil palm fruits were left unpicked.

“It would be good if we have local harvesters, but we cannot pay them like how we pay foreign workers. Since it’s a big industry, we must make sure they (local harvesters) look at it as a profession,” he added.

Johari said he had spoken to deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also rural development minister, about a possible pilot project for the idea.

“We can recruit around 40 to 50 people and get industry experts from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to teach them.”

He also said he had spoken to MPOB about cultivating shorter oil palm trees so that it would be easier to harvest the fruits.