Mechanization by Insect: Multi-Species Ecologies in the Malaysian Plantationocene

This paper explores the human-assisted transoceanic migration and resettlement of the African Palm Weevil in Malaysia and S.E. Asia, and the consequent environmental and social upheaval that emerged at the intersection of biological symbiosis, neocolonial labor policies, accelerating economic change, and biodiversity heritage. In the 1960s and 70s, as Malaysia was transitioning away from rubber plantations and towards palm oil, British planters conjectured that yields were lower in SE Asia than in the palm's native West Africa due to the absence of a native pollinator. Funded by Unilever, a Pakistani entomologist, R.A. Syed, traveled to Cameroon and received permission from the Malaysian government to import African Palm Weevils, which he had discovered to be obligate pollinators and symbiotes of oil palm. Within a few years of the insects' release, Malaysian palm oil production became both more efficient and economically dominant, and deforestation and biodiversity loss accelerated. The predominantly female human labor force who had been hand-pollinating the palms before found their jobs replaced by an insect, in what can be alternately viewed as a form of biotechnological automation or an alteration of the plantation ecosystem.