Social Issues and Challenges among Oil Palm Smallholder Farmers in Malaysia: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Oil palm smallholder farmers are among the key players and are mostly affected by social challenges to the sustainability of the oil palm sector in Malaysia. Previous literature reviews showed a lack of social studies compared to studies of the economy and environment regarding the sustainability of the oil palm industry. Therefore, a systematic literature review focused on the context of social issues and challenges reported by Malaysian oil palm smallholder farmers is presented. The PRISMA standard is applied as the foundation for the systematic literature review writing procedure. A total of 12 papers were chosen out of 340 from Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. They covered three themes, including (i) attitudes, (ii) education, and (iii) the welfare of oil palm smallholder farmers. This systematic literature review has revealed that the social issues and challenges are closely related to the respondents’ demographics, such as the study location, the level of education, and the size of the plantations managed by smallholder farmers. This paper provides an up-to-date review of the social issues and challenges that oil palm smallholder farmers in Malaysia have encountered, as well as insights into future research on critical societal issues and challenges that demand attention and efforts towards improvement.

Risk Management Literacy Level among Oil Palm Smallholders in Malaysia

“…According to Ishak et al (2021), the oil palm smallholders in Malaysia tend to avoid risk as their knowledge on risk management is limited. In fact, oil palm smallholders in Malaysia face a number of risks and challenges, such as unpredictable weather and inconsistent oil palm prices (Siti-Dina et al, 2023). Furthermore, oil palm smallholders may face risks, such as plant diseases, which can affect the productivity of oil palm production and cause these oil palm smallholders to lose their source of income.…”