About 443 workers have been laid off at Golden Veroleum Liberia, more than 10 percent of its workforce, the company said on Saturday.
“[They are] due to the downturn of the global economy due to the coronavirus and the constant drop in the price of oil palm on the world market,” said Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s communication officer in Sinoe told Front page Africa in a phone interview.
Employees in Sinoe and Grand Kru were affected, including general workers, staff, and managers, Kofi added.
GVL had proposed to cut some 1,200 jobs but reached an agreement with the government of Liberia to slice that number to 443, Kofi was quoted by a local media as saying.
Oil palm price has fallen since the beginning 2020 by 452 Malaysian Ringgit (US$103.87) metric tons or 16.34 percent, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for the commodity.
This is due to a slump in the demand for edible oil as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Liberia has recorded 21 deaths from 2027 cases of the disease as of May 17, 2020.
GVL signed a 65-year concession Agreement with Liberia in 2010 for 450,000 hectares of land or approximately 2.3 percent of Liberia’s total area.
GVL has planted approximately 18,000 hectares (approximately 11,120 acres) of high quality Oil Palm in Liberia. We currently employ approximately 3,300 Liberians, nearly 40% of which are women.
The company’s primary investor is Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the world’s second-largest palm oil company, listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
It is the third time the company, the largest palm plantation in Liberia, has laid off staff. It had job-cuts in 2012 and 2015.
CSO criticizes concessionaires
A member of one of Liberia’s leading land right advocacy groups, sustainable Development Institute said the redundancy by GVL is a clear indication that big concessionaires are not dependable and communities should not fully depend on them.
James Otto said company like GVL is not interested in the wellbeing of the local communities but are only interested in taking their farmlands away.
“The action by GVL to lay off citizens from jobs clearly shows that promises made by agro concessions are unrealistic and only intended to lure communities to give away their lands,” he adds.
Since 2019, almost 1,000 employees from firestone, Sime Darby Palm oil plantation and Bea Mountain mining company have been laid off due to what they termed “low prices” on the global market.
