Plantation / Agriculture

International Labor Organization (ILO) defines plantation as: . any agricultural undertaking regularly employing hired workers which is situated in the tropical or subtropical regions and which is mainly concerned with the cultivation of production for commercial purposes of coffee, tea, sugar-cane, rubber, bananas, cocoa, coconuts, groundnuts, cotton, tobacco, fibers (sisal, jute, and hemp), citrus, palm oil, cinchona or pineapple;

Fundamentally, a plantation is usually a large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country, on which cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or trees and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers.

A plantation is an intentional planting of a crop, on a larger scale, usually for uses other than cereal production or pasture. The term is currently most often used for plantings of trees and shrubs. The term tends also to be used for plantings maintained on economic bases other than that of subsistence farming.

Palm oil was a major plantation product until a global bust that occurred in the late 1970s/early 1980s. The bust was due to a reduction in palm oil popularity due to its saturated fat content. However, palm oil production has again expanded dramatically in Malaysia since the mid 1990s.