Barbara Dinham looks at the plantations which the company now controls in the Third World and argues that they do not serve the real needs of poor countries. They are cut down with a long and heavy pole and the skin, head and eyes of the harvester are likely to be cut by the falling fronds. In Malaysian plantations, fruit is cut down mainly by men, while women collect and load the 40-kilogram fruit branches, and thorns can become permanently lodged in the hands, causing constant irritation and infection. Only rarely is protective clothing issued to the women who spray a mixture of lethal paraquat on the ground to kill weeds.
Some people believe the chemicals cause the material to disintegrate.
Wages on plantations are low. Earning the full weekly wage usually involves long hours in the baking sun, struggling to fulfill the company s quota of palm-oil nuts. The whole family - mothers, grandparents, fathers and children usually work together. Their wages are also dependent on the world market price for palm-oil, and so fluctuate with that price. There is an official entitlement to 16 days annual leave plus ten days public holidays.