Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County – Workers at the Mano Palm Oil Plantation, formerly Sime Darby Plantation (SDPL) have begun a 21-day protest, requesting the company and the Government to live by the contractual agreement they signed with SDPL. The workers’ action comes less than three months following the acquisition of the Sime Darby Plantation Liberia (SDPL) from its parent company based in Malaysia. The deal marked the end of Sime Darby Plantation’s venture that was incurring loss since its inception and worsened by a 2017-2018 slump in palm oil prices. Sime Darby Plantation had signed a 63-year concession agreement with the Liberian government in 2009 to develop 220,000 hectares in northwest Liberia into oil palm and rubber plantations. Meanwhile, it appears that some of the problems that grappled Sime Darby are now surfacing at the new company, specifically the menace of workers’ strike.

Source: Front Page Africa March 13, 2020 06:22 UTC