plantation agriculture - oil palm plantation

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A type of farming system.

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It is an extensive commercial cultivation of crops aimed mainly for export.

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In Southeast Asia,

- P. Malaysia (rubber, oil palm & tea)

- Islands of Sumatra and Java in Indonesia (rubber, oil palm, coffee, tea, sugar-cane, spices)

- The Philippines (coconuts, sugar-cane)

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1. Colonialism

- Cash crops introduced by colonial masters as there was great demand for these crops in Europe.- The locals took over the plantations after independence.

2. Climate

- The tropical hot & wet climate favoured the cultivation of these crops.

3. Demand

- Still in great demand in other countries-Can be used as raw materials in local industries.

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4. Large expanses of forested area

- Large tracts of land available for the establishment of large-scale plantations.

5. Availability of abundant cheap labour

- Needed to clear the forests, grow and process the crops.

6. Ideal coastal outlines

- The long coastal outlines of S.E.A. is ideal for the setting of coastal ports which will in turn facilitate the export of crops.

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1. Commercial Farming

- outputs are mainly exported or sold as raw materials to local industries.

2. Large-scale estate farming

- Size of plantations range from 40 ha to 1 200 ha each.

3. High Farm Input

(Heavy capital input) - needed for buying large areas of land. - to build basic infrastructure such as roads & railways. - to build processing factories - to hire workers - to operate and maintain the plantation

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(Labour Intensive) - A large labour pool is needed to work as labourers, administrative and technical staff.

4. High level of technology

- Need to produce high quality and large outputs - Extensive mechanization in cultivating and processing crops - liberal use of fertilizers & pesticides 5. High Farm output

- To cover production costs

6. Monoculture

- Usually one type of tree crop (year-round yields) is grown

11In Peninsular Malaysia

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Originated from West Africa.

First grown commercially in Malaysia in the early 20th Century.

Became an important cash crop in the 1960s when the government wanted farmers to diversify

their crops.

Many farmers switched to growing oil palm when rubber prices fell.

Malaysia is now the leading exporter of palm oil.

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World production of palm oil, the most widely traded edible oil, has also seen significant leaps in production and planted areas; production had almost doubled from 1990 to 2001, with Malaysia and Indonesia contributing to most of the increased production. This had been had been achieved mainly by opening of new land for oil palm plantations. In Malaysia, the area planted with the crop had increased from 2.03 million hectares in 1990 to 3.50 million hectares in 2001, an increase of 172%.

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Grown on plantations and smallholdings.

Found on

- both sides of the main

road and railway line in

Johor,

-the coastal lowlands

between Sepang in

Selangor and Teluk

Intan in Perak.

- the Jengka Triangle in

Pahang

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1. Climatic factors

- Grows best in equatorial areas

- At least 1 500 mm of evenly distributed annual rainfall

- High annual temperatures of 24 - 32 (oC)

2. Relief

-Flat or undulating or gently sloping land

3. Soil

-well drained and alluvial or volcanic soils

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1. Planting seeds in pre-nursery beds

- Sow seeds in small plastic bags.

- Adequate water and fertilizers are added to ensure healthy growth.

2. Transplanting to nursery (8 weeks later)

- Healthy seedlings transplanted to nursery.

- Irrigation and manual weeding are carried out to ensure healthy growth.

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3. Transplanting to main field (9 months later)

- Seedlings are transplanted to the main field

- Seedlings are arranged in rows and are well-spaced

- Cover crops (legumes or sweet potatoes) are grown between rows of palm to prevent soil erosion.

- Regular weeding, fertilizers are added, and pesticides are used

4. Harvesting (in the 3rd or 4th year)

- Carried out once every 10 days (for 25 years)

- Ripened fruits are harvested with a sharp knife tied to a pole.

Barn owl for rat control.

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Bunches of harvested fruits are taken quickly to the factory for processing.

A delay would compromise the quality of the palm oil produced.

- Need for

1) well-laid rail-carrier tracks or roads for lorries

2) factories or mills in plantations.

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Germinated Seeds

Oil Palm pre-nursery with micro-sprinkler irrigation system

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18-month old palms growing in the midst of a luxuriant covercrop.

Cover crops (legumes or sweet potatoes) are grown between rows of

palm to prevent soil erosion.

A young mature palm carrying a good crop of

bunches

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500km long light rail system of transporting fresh fruit bunches to the mill

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Sterilization

Stripping

Oil Extraction

Purification

Export

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1. Sterilization (& softening)

- Bunches of fruits emptied into large containers.

- Moved into steriliser and heated for about 90 minutes by steam to kill bacteria and to soften the fruits.

2. Stripping

- Sterilised fruits transferred to stripping machine (threshing drum) to separate the fruits from the stalks.

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3. Oil Extraction

- The mesopcarp is separated from the nut.

- The mesocarp is squeezed by a machine (hydraulic press)to obtain crude palm oil.

- Extracted crude palm oil will be taken away from the plantation to a refinery to be made into different products.

- The nuts are put in a nut-cracking machine where the shells are removed to get the kernels.

- The kernels are dried and put into sacks (for export) where extraction of oil will be done outside the plantation.

Kernel

Nut

mesocarp

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Fresh fruit bunches

Cross-section of a fruitlet

Each fresh fruit bunch contains about 1000 to 1300 fruitlets

Each fruitlet consists of a fibrous meoscarp layer, the endocarp (shell) which contains the kernel.

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A Palm oil Mill

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32The centralised administrative building in a plantation

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4. Purification

- Impurities and water present in the extracted crude oil palm are removed.

- the purified oil is then pumped into storage tanks to be exported worldwide.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Refined Palm oil - Exported or sold to local manufacturing industries to produce goods such as detergent, cooking oil, candles, margarine & etc.

Kernel oil - use to make margarine, detergents, soaps & etc.

Fruit stalks, nut shells & dried fibre of the mesocarp can be used as fuel for boilers in the factory.

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Positive (+) impacts of the plantation industry on Malaysia’s economy

1. Generating employment

- Plantations are generally labour intensive even though they are usually extensively mechanized.

- In 1990, there were 100 000 people working in oil palm plantations.

2. Generating income

- Export earnings from these cash crops.

3. Provision of raw materials to local manufacturing industries.

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PROBLEMS & CHALLENGES

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1. Shortage of labour

- results in crop loss and lower farm output due to delay in carrying out work (i.e. harvesting)

2. Rising cost of production

- due to rising labour costs

3. Competition from substitutes

- palm oil faces competition from other types of oil such as soya bean oil.

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Measures taken to combat problems

1. Labour shortage & rising labour costs

- Reduce labour requirements by extensive mechanization (e.g. using aircraft to apply fertilizers)

- Employ foreign workers

2. To remain competitive,

Adopt modern technology

- to produce new & improved crop varieties,

- to increase efficiency in oil extraction & produce higher quality and value-added products.

- Active overseas marketing to promote products (palm oil) & holding seminars, exhibitions & giving credit facility.

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Oil palm is cross-pollinated and the key pollinating agent is the weevil.

The oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq. is indigenous to West Africa

Harvesting commences about 24 to 30 months after planting and each palm can produce between eight to 15 fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per year weighing about 15 to 25 kg each.

Each FFB contains about 1000 to 1300 fruitlets; each fruitlet consists of a fibrous meoscarp layer, the endocarp (shell) which contains the kernel

The oil palm produces two types of oils, palm oil from the fibrous mesocarp and lauric oil from the palm kernel.