Case Study

Pacific Rim Palm Oil Ltd, (PRPOL) is one of South East Asia's fastest growing palm oil plantation groups and one of the world's leading suppliers of high quality crude palm oil.

Pacific Rim Palm Oil

Leveraging Location Intelligence to Improve Plantation Management Techniques and Analysis
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The Situation
Large amounts of data accumulate every year for each field in each of the plantations. PRPOL found that managing and analyzing this data and presenting it in a form useful to line management staff is a costly and time-consuming exercise. The Agricultural Department of PRPOL recognized the need to develop an integrated agronomy management information system (AMIS) to perform temporal and spatial analysis of agronomic data for its oil palm plantations. A Geographic Information System (GIS) solution was required to convert raw data into useful information in the form of reports and maps that could then be used to improve field management techniques. The spatial analysis of data would then enable PRPOL to make more informed decisions about plantation agronomic and field management. A solution was needed that could provide plantation managers with an intelligent and efficient data analysis tool to introduce 'site specific' management techniques. An enhanced GIS solution was required to improve oil palm crop management, maximize oil production and for efficient management of the environment. "One of the key issues in improving our crop management techniques was the need to transform our static GIS solution showing field boundaries, roads and rivers into a dynamic GIS solution that could be updated with the latest available data" explained Thomas Fairhurst, Director of Agriculture at PRPOL. "This solution would allow us to update maps showing key agricultural performance indicators and analyze and monitor crop production, thus making it easier to identify problem areas using electronic maps" he added.

development company, PRPOL implemented an Oil Palm Management Programme (OMP) - that includes a database management and information system solution (DBMS) for agronomic data analysis. PRPOL uses OMP to record, store and analyze agronomic data (i.e., yield, leaf and soil analysis, environment, climate, pest and disease, and palm census data) recorded on a field-by-field basis. Using OMP, PRPOL is able to store and analyze data for all agronomic parameters over several planting cycles. Trimble PathfinderGlobal Positioning System (GPS) (www.trimble.com) equipment and software is used to collect geo-referenced information (point and line data) for use in mapping.

Process for selecting a mapping solution

PRPOL evaluated several types of software available in the market and selected MapInfo based on its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and high level of technical support and training. PRPOL used MapInfo Professional to produce maps, integrating data from the OMP DBMS and GPS dataloggers. This technology has now been developed in all five of PRPOL's estates (PT Asiatic, Jambi province, Indonesia; PT Harapan Sawit Lestari, West Kalimantan, Indonesia; Milne Bay Estates, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, Poliamba, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Higaturu Oil Palms, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea). Satellite images are also used for palm counting and estate development planning.

Pacific Rim Palm Oil Ltd Pacific Rim Palm Oil Ltd, (PRPOL) is one of South East Asia's fastest growing palm oil plantation groups and one of the world's leading suppliers of high quality crude palm oil. PRPOL (www.prpol.com) is an independently managed organization headquartered in Singapore. The company currently employs more than 12,000 people and owns a total of more than 60,000 hectares of palm oil plantations with three plantations in Papua New Guinea and two in Indonesia. In 2003, PRPOL's annual turnover was US$91 million.

The Solution
In collaboration with the Potash Phosphate Institute (PPI) (www.ppi-ppic-ipi.org) and Agrisoft Systems (www.agrisoft-systems.de), a computer software

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PRPOL has set its sights on increasing the plantation productivity by US$24 million.

"Computer technology is not a substitute for 'walking the field' but can make field inspections more productive by providing managers with up-to-date information on each field in the plantation that can be referred to during field walks," William Griffiths, Chief Estates Manager, PT Asiatic Persada.

The Benefits of Mapping Plantation Agronomic Information

The database system provides PRPOL with reports that summarize data at the field, division and estate level and contains built-in tools for particular kinds of data analysis. OMP is also used to prepare, maintain and summarize field data for use with MapInfo. The integration of MapInfo with dynamic data from OMP provides the means for plantation managers to produce 'management maps' showing key agronomic parameters that can be updated and generated easily. Information sharing within the company is also enhanced as maps created using MapInfo can be distributed in Acrobat *.pdf and as hard copy.

this way, management of time and resource utilization can be focused on those areas with the greatest scope for increased returns. "Computer technology is not a substitute for 'walking the field' but can make field inspections more productive by providing managers with up-to-date information on each field in the plantation that can be referred to during field walks," commented William Griffiths. PRPOL has set its sights on increasing the plantation productivity by 4 t/ha fruit bunches with a value, in terms of increased revenue, of US$24 million.

Next Step
As part of its plan to develop a management information system to gather data on water and environmental parameters, PRPOL intends to leverage on its current investment in MapInfo by deploying other companion products such as MapInfo Vertical Mapper. Vertical Mapper provides the user with the means to query and compare multiple layers of information, using complex mathematical expressions to create derivative grids, or perform line of sight analysis.

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"Plantation management staff find it easier to use information presented in maps compared with tabular data. MapInfo Professional is a powerful visualisation tool that enables information to be made available to management staff to support site specific agronomic management in plantations and to monitor progress. "For example, it is more useful to provide the manager with a map showing blocks classified according to leaf nutrient status than a table showing the results of leaf analysis," said William Griffiths, Chief Estates Manager, PT Asiatic Persada. Digital maps created using MapInfo Professional allow PRPOL to: Analyze the accuracy of fertilizer application Investigate the spatial distribution of nutrient deficiency symptoms Produce soil maps from point data Map the spatial distribution of pest and disease attacks Produce 'isometric' maps showing individual palm points Map point data showing environmental parameters.

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A very useful measure of plantation productivity is to calculate the yield gap for each field in an estate. For example, a yield gap analysis map of PT Asiatic Persada, presently under rehabilitation, shows that the largest yield gaps occur around the estate perimeter due to poor infrastructure and palm maintenance. The map is then used to plan and implement Map showing yield gaps (the difference between estimated attainable yield and remedial action in those fields actual yield) in individual fields in PT Asiatic Persada. Fields that exceed the where there is the greatest estimated attainable yield are shown in green and fields that have not reached potential to increase yield. In the estimated attainable yield are shown in red.
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