InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA - The principles to increase productivity of palm oil plantation have two aspects, i.d., agronomy and non – agronomy aspects.

The main goal of non – agronomy aspect is to take every fresh fruit bunch (FFB), seed, in period to be transported to the factory and processed it to be crude palm oil. So it needs ‘wide path (infrastructure)’ or collection path within the strong and quaified bridge to support the transportation. The path should be passed well.

In the plantation, it needs to ‘service the harvest way’ or the narrow way so that the harvesters could walk and harvest the FFB. The harvest path should have bridge to ease the collection and to transport it to the gathering place in the side of the block.

Agronomy Aspect

Palm oil plantation should have equitorial climate which means that the rain equally falls in every single year in average and when it is dry season, the rain still falls.

Besides the fertilization, the water is the vital needs to grow the plantation well in the equitorial climate. The climate is in Aceh to Papua. In the southern of Indonesia, though palm oil could grow, but the productivity would not be optimal. If it is forced to grow, there would be additional cost to engineer to have the same productivity in the regions where palm oil is good to be developed.

The issue is that, how to engineer the environment so that palm oil could absorb the nutrients given in the soil as much as it could, and the photosynthesis in the leaves as optimal as it could? If it is reviewed by the characteristic of the plantation, the root takes the nutrients from the soil. To supply the photosynthesis process to every part of the plantation, and fresh fruit bunch (FFB), it needs optimal growth in the leaves.

That is why in Production Force Management process, the plantation is led to improve the root and the leaves in the first place. The method that Universitas Padjajaran has its patent is very effective to increase the productivity fast and highly to increase. Here are some steps needed to get the potential:

Select the sprouts or seeds which derive from the cross that may be potential to produce female flower in average and the heaviest bunch. But if the seeds are fake, there would be 30% maximally to increase and if the seeds are hybrid, it minimally increases 30% only.

Improve the measure of the leaves in the midrib, such as, young leaves, the length of the young leaves, the length of the midrib by multiplying the additional nutrients and adding the numbers of active roots. Pay attention to the numbers of midrib per tree and leaf area index so that the canopy of leaves could produce much photosynthesis.

Multiply the numbers of root by some treatments. The feeder root could be done by multiplying the lateral roots. This is the new approach which has very good result to add the nutrient absorption from the soil. The nutrient absorption is to the leaves. The more nutrients are absorbed, the more photosynthesis are, the better stalk, leaves, and root would be too. Multiplying the active root would be efficient to pour the fertilizers.

By: Memet Hakim - Emha Training Center & Advisory Services/Guest Lecturer of Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjajaran

For more, please read InfoSAWIT, November 2018