Sustainable Community Development in Malaysia Palm Oil Industry

Cluster Research Grant, 2020

Abstract

Sustainable community development is an important aspect to ensure community resilience and well-being. It is inlined with the sustainable development agenda to ensure that the present needs of the community are fulfilled without compromising the future needs. This issue is pertinent to be studied from the context of Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia as the industry is moving towards sustainability, which is guided by the Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) scheme. There are important issues to be addressed especially regarding the escalating numbers of foreign workers in palm oil industry. Therefore, Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) needs to attract and retain local workers in palm oil industry to resolve the problem. Hence, sustainable community development may provide a better quality of living to the community through the realization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices i.e. economy, social and environment. In building a resilience community, the business and society relationship needs to be strengthen through corporate motivation of social responsibility and community engagement. Therefore, this study would attempt to understand the sustainable community development in palm oil industry in general. Specifically, this study would also identify the challenges and best practices in realizing a sustainable community in palm oil industry. The contribution of this study will enhance the Principle 4 of MSPO that looks into social responsibility, safety and health of the community. Besides, this study would also provide insights to attract and retain local workers in the industry. This would eventually reduce the numbers of foreign workers and would also lead to alleviation of other socioeconomic issues.

Project Leader

Shifa Mohd Nor (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), )