Oil palm Mechanical Harvesting

Review paper

Shamil Mudheher Abbood

Department of Machines and Equipment, AL-Suwairah Technical

Institute, Middle Technical University

Abstract

There are many previous harvesting tools and machines has been
fabrication and modification for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) through last
decades .Rapidly increasing of oil palm plantation led to a great
need for using the mechanization in oil palm harvesting to decrease
the cost of agricultural production. Oil palm harvesting involves four
interrelated activities , like cutting the fronds and fruit bunches
,stacking for fronds collecting the lose fruits and carrying the
harvested fruit to the collection point. Nowadays, there is about
25%of FFB collection is done through mini tractor and 75%is really
done on manual labor .This paper reviewed the tools and machines
that it has been used in oil palm harvesting. Furthermore,
determined the raping time using vision camera for improving and
.developing FFB harvesting machinery

Introduction

Over the last decades, mechanical has become a buzz word in oil
palm cultivation in Malaysia. It is commonly recognized as a means
of solving increasingly acute shortage of labor in the plantation
sector (Teo Leng ,2000 ).Harvesting is the most important an activity
in oil palm cultivation. It was estimated that the operation requires
about 60% of the total labor for the crop and about 50 % of the total
cost. (Abdul Razak, at.al 2007). Currently, Malaysia has 4.7 million of
oil palm plantation and the harvested area is 11.20 million ha. The
potential land of oil palm plantation is increasing dramatically
throughout the past decades many machines were invented for oil
palm harvesting by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) but none of
them was made commercial due to its inefficiency. This was because
the harvester operator faces difficulty in positioning the mechanical
cutter to the bunch stalk during cutting process (Helena Anusia and
Wan Ishak 2010). Initially, there are 369000 foreign workers
employed in plantation (Yik Nam Lee 2011).Approximately,
harvesting and collections of FFB and a lose fruits are laborious,
time consuming and incur the highest cost of operation .Thus it is
justified to improve the existing machines and systems in the
.plantation to solve the labor, time and cost

Oil palm plantation

Oil palm is a tree without branches but with many wide leaves or
fronds at the crown of tree. It is become the world's number one
fruit crop because of it is unparalleled productivity (Butler 2006).The
first large plantation in Sumatra was planted in 1911.Otherwise, in
1917 the first true plantation was established in Malaysia in the
Selangor district (Nam Lee 2011) . In less than 100 years oil palm
has moved from being a relatively minor subsistence crop in West
and Central Africa to one of the worlds major agricultural
commodities selective clearing (Zeven, 1972; Smith et al., 1992). It
has recently expanded dramatically in Southeast Asia (Wicke et al.,
2011), and increasingly in Africa and Latin America). The expansion
is driven by producers responding to real and antic- pated increase
in consumer demand (Corley, 2009), much of which is from India
.and China.fig 1 Global distribution of oil palm

Fig 1 Global distribution of oil palm

areas of highest terrestrial vertebrate endemism; (b) global (a) :

distribution of oil palm cultivation (harvested area as percentage of
country area); (c)agriculturally suitable areas for oil palm (with and
.without forest); and (d)oil palm-harvested area in Southeast Asia
oil palm Elaeis guineensis is grown across more than 13.5 million ha
of tropical, high-rainfall, low-lying areas, a zone naturally occupied
by moist tropical forest, the most biologically diverse terrestrial
ecosystem on Earth (R.H.V. Corley, P.B. Tinker ,2003) (fig 1a,b).
Malaysia and Indonesia produce more than 80% of all palm
oil (fig.1.d). Together, they also hold more than 80% of Southeast
Asia's remaining primary forests (mainly in Indonesia). (L.P. Koh,
D.S. Wilcove2007). In 2010, 5.4 million ha had been planted with oil
palm in Indonesia (3% of total land area), 4.0 million ha in Malaysia
(12% of land area), 3.2 million ha in Nigeria (3% of land area) and
2.8 million ha in the rest of the world (FAOSTAT). In the long term it
is clearly seen the interests of the oil palm industry to increase yield
.Thus, urgently needed to developing cultivation machinery
especially, harvesting machines to face a shortage of labor and
.chive the height production palm oil

Harvesting
Harvesting the FFB involves the cutting of the bunch from the oil palm tree and
allowing it to fall to the ground by gravity. Fruits may be damaged in the process of
pruning palm fronds to expose the bunch base to facilitate bunch cutting. Normally,
the bunch (weighing about 25 kg) falls to the ground the impact bruises the fruit.
During loading and unloading of bunches into and out of transport containers there
are further opportunities for the fruit to be bruised. On the other hand, defies of the oil
palm is the method of harvesting because the fruits are compactly packed in the
bunches are hidden in the leaf axils in the crowns that may be more than 8 m higher
.also, each tree need to visited every 10-15 days as fruit bunches ripen (Kwasi,
2002).However, oil palm mechanical harvesting (cutting and collecting) still need
.more improving to be useable, low cost and able to reach both high and low palm tree
Harvesting time

Timeliness harvesting is very crucial to the quantity and quality of

yield fruit of oil palm. The under ripe fruit will yield lower quantity of
oil while the over ripe will yield oil with high free fatty acid. When a
fruit is fully ripe, it looses itself from the bunch and drops on the
ground or it is become easily detachable. So, the idle system of
harvesting would be collect loose fruit daily from the ground.
(Harcharan 1976). Thus, this method it is clearly impossible with
high plantation and production. So, a fruit bunch is normally been as
ripe enough for harvesting when a few fruits have loosened
themselves from the bunch and dropped on the ground (D.Adetan et
al 2007). The ripeness is normally indicated by the color changing
from black to reddish orange (Kaida and Zulkifly,1992). The oil palm
.bunch takes about 20 to 22 weeks to rip (Azis;et;al,1990)
There are many techniques to gage the ripeness time of oil palm
fruits.Azls;et;al,(1991) use a floatation technique that the specific
gravity of the monocarp of the ripe fruit is much lower than water.
(Wan Ishak;et;al,2000) used camera vision to categorize 0il balm
fruit bunches. This research was conducted to determine the color
properties of FFB. The camera vision was able to detect and
differentiate the ripe oil palm fruit from categories of FFB.(Abdullah
et al; 2001)used computer vision model in order to inspect and
grade the oil palm FFB depended on the relationship between oil
contents and color was explored HIS (Hue saturation and
intensity),domain for ripeness determination of oil palm by four
.major classes ; unripe ,under ripe, ripe and over ripe

Wan Ishak et al; (2010) was developing computer program that it

conducted to determine and differentiate between the pixels values
of the object color on several of time in outdoor condition. The
developed graphical analysis user interface was able to differentiate
and give the result output of the RGB color component
differentiation. The RGB value is significant to determine FFBs
maturity and oil content fig.2 shown the interface graphical. result
of this study was to develop the mathematical colour modelling for
outdoor image recognition that is the system can always determine
.the target image and solve the problem stated above

Fig .2 the developed graphical user interface

Manual harvesting
A lot of time and energy goes into the oil palm fruit harvesting
.such as enormous amount of energy is required for harvesting oil
palm that even cutting a single front alone ,the Malaysian knife
(sickle cutter) could require exertion of force as much as 18 N for
the matured frond (Jelani et al;1999). Short trees within arm-reach
are harvested using either the cutlass or chisel to cut the bunches
and fronds.Fig.3shown the previous harvesting tools.The fruit are
compactly packed in bunches which are hidden in leaf axils in crow
of tree.(Adetan et al;2007).The harvester requires enough space
around him so that produce enough momentum to throw the tool
.and cut the material

Tall palm trees more than 8 feet height ,a sickle attached to long
pole is used .The pole normally, use bamboo or aluminum . The
sharpness, shape and profile of the sickle will greatly contribute to
the effectiveness in the cutting operation. Cutting is done by the
method of slicing through pulling the sickle downwards. The pulling
force given by the harvester, with the added advantage of the
flexibility of the pole, allow the sharp edge to cut through the
. material

There are many disadvantages in using these manual tools.

Normally, energy
For cutting comes mainly from the harvester, it can be reduced by
the tool sharpness and self skill. Therefore, the harvester who is
handling such tools should be strong enough to maintain his energy
throughout the day. It is observed that generally the harvesters
would not be able to maintain their endurance for the whole day and
they normally stop in the afternoon. Harvesting of tall palms
normally is a great problem to the harvester. They must have
enough energy and skill in lifting and handling the long pole, and
.cutting the fronds as well as fruit bunches
Last decade, a new knife design which is much lighter and long
lasting is also being developed. Lighter tools will be much easier to
handle and as a result, fruit bunches which could not be harvested
then could now be reached, thus improving productivity. (Abdul
. Razak ,1997) .Fig.3 shown the manual harvesting
A B

Fig.3 manual harvesting tools A. Short palm .B. Tall palm

Z.Hamedon and M.Nafis was fabrication a spring sickle pole ,The

pole comprises three sections ,the locking , extension and spring
sickle. All sections joint together through the 50 mm diameter an
aluminum pole this invention called (Zapplt).it has been interdicted
new machine concept of sipring compression as a source of
mechanical force to cut the fronds and fruit bunches.Fig.4 shown the
sickle and sliding shaft. D.A.Adetan and K.A.Oladejo (2007) has been
modified pole and knife (MPK) method of harvesting oil palm fruit in
Nigeria . The topmost section of the pole was made from a 40 mm outer diameter and
35 mm inner diameter aluminums pipe and it carried the knife. It was 3.5 m in length
(including the length of the knife which was 0.35 m long). The middle and bottom
sections were each made from 2.1 m lengths of 60 mm outer diameter and 52 mm inner
diameter aluminums pipe. The top and middle sections, when connected together, was5.6
m long while the three sections together measured 7.7 m in length. The results of this
research showed that the MPK method was superior to the other methods in reducing the
time spent in searching for and collecting scattered loose fruits is increasing the recovery
of scattered loose fruits, eliminating the waist problem of the fruit collectors and
.increasing the ease of transportation and use of the harvesting pole
Fig.4 .the sickle and sliding shaft Fig.5. pole of the MPK method of
harvesting

,In fig.5..Sketch of the aluminum pole of the MPK method of harvesting the oil palm; 1
Malaysian knife; 2, knife carrier; 3, threaded pipes-and-bolt coupling between top and middle
.sections; 4, curved plate-and-bolt coupling between middle and bottom sections

Mechanical Harvesting

Efficient harvesting of fresh fruit bunches FFB play a significant role

to improving the quality of collected fruits (Abdul Razak;1997)
So,the MPOB was focused to developing an effective motorized
cutter for palms of middle height(below 6 m height) in areas where
the harvesting machines for palms of 6-12 height is not technically
suitable. The development of the motorized cutter popularly known
as cantas .the main components of the cutter are including the
cutter head ,telescopic pole and 1.3 hp petrol engine. The cutting
head comprises a C- sickle ,gear seat ,connecting rod and cover .the
telescopic pole comprises a basic pole and extension pole,
telescopic shaft and bearings. Most of components are made of an
aluminum alloy to be light weight. Fig 5.shown the oil palm
. motorized cutter, sickle and chisel
 Fig 5.oil palm cutters

The field trail has been proven to increase productivity in harvesting

FFB and also, to reduce workers fatigue.the oil palm trees less than
4.5 m can be effectively harvested .the harvester could harvested
about 650 to 750 FFB ber day .(Abdul Razak ;et;al 2008) .The
improving of oil palm motorize cutter has been done in
2010 by MPOB to be strong to durable enough to
overcome high friction due the high speed of cutting (Abd
.Razak; et; al. 2010)

To solve the limitation of motorized cutter such as the weight and

height , ). Azhar (2012)had been design and fabricated a linear
oscillatory actuator for oil palm mechanical cutter . This
cutter can reach palm until 8 m and the weight is 7.5 kg .
LOA is proposal to replace the bevel gears to produce
direct liner motion .LAO actually is activated by dynamo
which converts the mechanical energy provided by the
petrol engine to electrical energy .This energy will cause
the LOA shaft connected to the sickle to vibrate the
sickle .In this system was replace the transmission shaft
inside pole with a pair of copper wire to connect the
.dynamo with the LOA. Fig.6 shown the LAO cutter

Fig.6 the LAO cutter

As a result , this development has found that the optimum
number of coil is 5 with copper wire diameter 0.5 mm and
the LAO proved a bout 50 N thrust at 50W input power
.the advantage of this kind of actuator is it can provide a
. stable thrust along at displacement

Oil palm fruit grabbing

To reduce the cost of oil palm production, mechanization

has been considered. Abbai Belai et al. (2008) found that
in palm oil harvesting 75% of FFB collection is rely on
manual labor and 25% is done mostly through mini tractor
grabber. The various mechanism collection system have
been under test since 1980s and have been gradually
developed .Wan Ishak in 1982 was modified a dumber as a
fresh fruit bunch ( FFB) collector and transporter (Malik
and Yaakob .1989). Fawzi;1994 recommended a low
powered mechanical buffalo for collecting FFB on
terraces and producing higher labor productivity.
kamarudzaman et al (1994) studied the introduction of
mechanized system of small tractor with mechanical
loading , finding that tow worker could be omitted for each
unit .deployed and the harvester increased about 65%.
Each unit could deal with about 230 to 250 ha of oil palm
. field.Fig. 7 .shown the oil palm collection

Fig.7. the oil palm fruit collector

with Fruit catching mechanism ( FCM) was fabricated by MPOB

Japanese firm . FCM has been developed as a harvesting machine
with the cutting mechanism attached to a boom .It can reach 10 m
height , the maximum height both a cutter blade member and fruit
catching mechanism can be extended upwards and retracted using
hydraulic cylinders .When the bunch is sighted ,the operator will
maneuver the vehicle close to the palm and start harvesting
process, then the arm extended to the palm crown by shifting the
respective joystick control .A ones time the cutter is brought to
suitable position ,the operator will cut the fronds and bunches ,the
cut will fall down and placed into bin. (Abd Rahim et al 2004) . Fig
2.6 shown the FCM

Fig 2.6

fruit catching mechanism

Robotic grabbing

Collection, chopping and transportation .Collection of OPF at the

plantation site is usually carried out manually. Recently, a robotic
grabbersystem activated by hydraulic power generated from a 37
hp tractor was developed to collect pile of fronds at the plantation
and subsequently delivered into a trailer hitched behind the tractor.
The fronds are then transferred into a forage cutter mounted to
another tractor for chopping. The efficiency of this system is being
evaluated. The system is suitable for oil-palm plantation with a flat
land but may be not practical for high terrains. The latest
development in the R&D of oil palm harvester robot is the
.conceptual on-line harvesting operation

Robotic and wireless technology in agricultural industry, especially

in Malaysia is still new and still under research and needs more
development. Monitoring and control of mobile harvesting robot
through wireless LAN are the pioneer concept and development for
the future to resolve part of the modernize agriculture industry.
. (Wan Ishak Wan Ismail,2010)

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