TAIPING, June 28 (Bernama) — The plantation industry’s dependency on foreign workers is expected to be tackled by 2020, Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said today.

He said this was because the government was in the midst of intensifying efforts to lure young people to fill the vacancies in the industry.

“It’s not like we don’t need foreign workers, but we want to reduce their number in the country from over 500,000 now to about 100,000,” he told reporters after opening a plantation career talk and exhibition at the Rakan Muda complex in Kamunting, near here, today.

He said young people in the country should not think that working in the plantation sector “will not make anybody rich” because through effective strategies, assistance and expertise provided by the government and the private sector, they could achieve tremendous success in this sector.

Hamzah said the ministry was also willing to help any individual interested in venturing into the commodities sector like the cocoa, rubber and palm oil sectors.

“They can write to me directly and tell me their problems and the kind of assistance they want. If it will do them good, I will help,” he said.

Source : Bernama