Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Journal of
OFOil
OILPalm
PALMResearch
RESEARCHVol.
17 (DECEMBER
17 December
2005) 2005, p. 124-135
INTRODUCTION
* Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
P. O. Box 10620,
50720 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
E-mail: chankw@mpob.gov.my
oil palm cultivation dictates that the best agromanagement techniques be compiled with a systems
approach and be made available to the plantations
involved. Such a compilation of the BDPs for
implementation must be in accordance with the way
nature aspires, provide food for societys needs, and
ensure a safe and viable environment, by
maintaining the very ecological base on which
agricultural production is dependent upon.
Progressive agriculture is intrinsic to sustainable
development.
Up to now, most of the BDPs have emphasized
solutions to one or more of the triple pillars of
sustainable development - economic, social and
ecological. The time has come for the BDPs to
contribute to the stabilization of atmospheric GHG
concentrations. This paper draws together a generic
selected lists of BDPs from the physical, chemical
and biological environments currently in use that can
increase yield but yet address the issue of climate
change. These BDPs are highly cost-effective, noncapital intensive, and ecologically and culturally
sound. They are also easily replicable, up scalable
and can be incorporated into the agricultural policies
of the plantation with ease.
THE APPROACH
Many individual plantation groups have themselves
reported several BDPs that have improved the social,
economic and environmental aspects in their local
situations. These BDPs have kept the companies
profitable and viable. In the early 1990s, the question
of how best to introduce these BDPs into other
plantations and to make them perform just to well if
not better, was examined (Chan, 1993). Since then,
the pace of introducing more BDPs has gathered
momentum as several new advances in agronomy
and management practices have been brought in.
Many of these newer BDPs have the potential to
make the industry even more competitive (Chan,
1995a). Sustainable agriculture then becomes the
clarion call made several years ago (Chan, 1995b)
and the oil palm industry soon becomes the
champion for the protection of its own environment.
In fact, as early as the 1970s, Corley et al. (1976) had
pointed out that in a developing economy like
Malaysia, mechanization, while raising productivity
and reducing the input per unit land area, would
lead to an increasing dependence on fossil fuels. This
has now become an increasingly relevant point in
light of the call to the plantations to reduce GHG
emissions from the use of fossil fuels. Wood and
Corley (1991) subsequently showed that the oil palm
industry being highly energy efficient should exploit
its energy resources, and even Pauli and Gravitis
(1997) had called for zero emission from its fuel
sources.
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Planning
Carry out an Environment Impact Assessment
(EIA) prior to development of the plantation or
change of planting materials.
Evaluate the land use change and soils by
encompassing the physical, social and financial
factors.
Provide a management plan for biodiversity.
Development
Conserve forest areas, especially those with high
conservation value (HCV).
Retain buffer zones, e.g. wildlife corridors and
riparian strips.
Zero burning of debris to improve the soil health
with emphasis on microbial diversity.
Construct contour terraces in undulating to hilly
terrain.
Establish legume covers for soil protection and for
building up of organic matter and soil N.
Harvest rainfall, minimize runoff, prevent soil
erosion, and maintain natural ground cover.
Drain low lying areas, maintain the water level in
peat and acid sulphate soils.
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Immature phase
Build up the potassium status in the palms prior
to the first harvest.
Mature phase
Manage the ground cover with judicious use of
pesticides/IPM for legume purification to ensure
persistence.
Place pruned fronds on the lips of terraces and in
between inter-rows to recycle organic matter,
conserve moisture and prevent erosion.
Apply empty fruit bunches at replanting.
Apply treated POME for nutrient recycling and
moisture conservation.
Practise discriminatory fertilizer application based
on the individual nutrient needs of the crop as
assessed from soil and foliar analyses and
responses from fertilizer trials.
Integrate precision agriculture to accommodate the
soil variability through variable rate technology.
Maintain a nutrient export/input balance at each
site with a yield target of 35 t ha-1 yr-1 FFB.
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Harvesting
Maintain short-harvesting rounds (at least 30
rounds yr-1) with the minimum ripeness standard
and collect all the loose fruits without debris.
Mechanize field FFB collection to ensure quick
transport to the mill to increase productivity and
oil quality, and to reduce the physical load on the
workers.
Enforce strict quality control to avoid
contamination of the FFB.
Milling
Ensure high mill efficiency with high oil and kernel
extraction ratios.
Ensure efficient management of the wastes (Table
6) from milling, processing and refining.
Product quality and value
Keep FFA and oxidation to acceptable levels for
marketability.
Process fruits from the field immediately.
Reduce the backlog of FFB on the ramp.
Avoid all contamination.
Biofuel and biogas production
Directly burn palm oil in the boiler to reduce the
use of fossil fuel.
Convert palm oil into biodiesel to replace fossil fuel.
Capture biogas from the digestion of POME for
fuel.
Determine the GHG emissions saved and convert
them into carbon
Transport
Encourage more efficient FFB transport like using
the returning vehicles to carry EFB to the field.
Improve the transport efficiency by using larger
vehicles.
Reduce the fossil fuel density by blending with
palm biodiesel.
Use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) wherever
possible as it is a cleaner energy source.
Reduce unnecessary transport movements with
better planning.
Shift to less polluting transport, e.g. buffalo cart for
in-field FFB collection.
Mechanization
Reduce the demand for mechanization by using
the buffalo cart for in-field transport and larger
vehicles for main road FFB transport.
Comprehensive transport planning.
Consider the fuel mix and select suitable vehicle
engines for better efficiency.
Set the new frond piles at replanting on the
harvesting paths of the old stand.
Government incentives
Tax exemption for using biodiesel fuel blends.
CO2 tax exemption for the use of natural gas (LPG,
biogas).
Appeal for government incentive for using biogas
from the digestion of effluent.
Tax incentives for the use of low ground pressure
tyres for in-field machines.
Sub-Sector 6: Energy
The industry has a great potential to generate
surplus electricity from the burning of its mill wastes
viz. fibre, shell and empty fruit bunches. In addition,
there is the biogas from effluent ponds that is at
present still largely untapped. The potential energy
from the biogas alone should suffice for the mills
requirement thereby freeing the fibre, shell and
empty fruit bunches for use in the production of
electricity for sale to the national grid.
The government is offering incentives for
individual mills to become power suppliers. The
mills only have to link their supply to the nearest
grid. With this move, CO2 emission will be reduced
considerably from the lower use of fossil fuels to
generate the electricity (Table 8).
TABLE 8. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES FOR ENERGY
AND ENERGY INDUSTRIES
Energy
Draw up the GHG profile from fuel
combustion and compare it to the total
emission from the palm oil industry using the
LCA approach.
Break down the GHG emissions into CO2,
CH4, N2O by identifying the sources.
Promote efficient energy supply and use, and
also energy security.
Reduce CO 2 emission by using cleaner
gaseous fuels such as LPG instead of diesel in
energy production.
Energy industries
Determine the GHG profile of energy
generation by the oil palm industry using
LCA.
Establish the potential electricity that can be
generated from the wastes of the oil palm
industry.
Determine the CHP that can be generated
from oil palm biomass and adopt a renewable
resources portfolio for energy generation and
use.
Encourage consumers to use electricity
generated from renewable resources.
Adopt broader energy reforms such as
economic efficiency and consumer choice of
energy sources designed to reduce GHGs.
Use oil palm plantations to sequester CO2 as
a parallel alternative while technologies to
improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG
emissions are being developed.
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DISCUSSION
Increased emissions of GHGs are the causes of global
warming. The oil palm industry has an important
role to play because it provides well for the growing
demand for food and energy while promoting
economic and social development. Nevertheless, it
has to contribute to the international efforts to
mitigate the risk of climate change. While this poses
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is grateful to the Director-General of
MPOB, for instituting a programme on carbon offset
within the MPOB R&D strategy and involving the
author heavily in its work. The author also
acknowledges the contribution of Dr Mohd Basri
Wahid, the Deputy Director-General (R&D) and Dr
Ahmad Kushairi Din, the Director of Biology, MPOB
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