Best Management Practice for Maximum Economic Yield in Oil Palm (BMP-OP II)

In 2006, IPNI launched a new initiative to evaluate opportunities for yield intensification following the concept of Best Management Practices (BMP) in partnership with six collaborating plantations in Sumatra (North, South) and Kalimantan (West, Central, and East).

At each site, five pairs of blocks sized 25-30ha were selected to represent larger oil palm areas (i.e. an estate or part of an estate). One block was designated as the BMP block for the implementation of best practices, the other became the reference (REF) block where current standard practices continued. Since not all projects were started at the same time, years of BMP implementation at the six sites ranged from 12 to 22 months at the timing of writing. All data presented are expressed on an annual basis.

Yield advantages with BMP were significant at all project except site 1 where current yield is probably close to the site yield potential. Considering all data available for this preliminary analysis, yield with BMP was 3.1 t/ha or 13% greater compared to the standard practice. Except for site 1, yield advantages with BMP ranged from 1.7 to 5.9 t/ha.

Table 1. Effects of best management practices (BMP) on fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield and net added value in mature oil palms expressed on an annual basis after 12 to 22 months of BMP implementation. REF = Reference blocks with standard plantation management.

# Difference in yield between BMP and REF blocks; § Based on FFB price of 1,200 Indonesian Rupiah per kg and actual production costs.

Best Management Practices resulted in significant profit increases at four out of six project sites (Table 1). The net added value at sites 2-5 ranged from 260 to 680 USD per year. It should be noted that substantial investment was made in the first year in some cases. Such initial investment in infrastructure, drainage, or other practices will not increase yield in the short-term so that the full benefit of BMP should be evaluated over a period of four years considering one fruiting cycle.

Yield advantages with BMP in the first year were largely attributed to improved crop recovery as indicated by an increase in the recorded bunch weight (Figure 1). However, there were also promising improvements in bunch numbers at four out of six project sites. Bunch number is expected to further increase with continuing implementation of yield building BMPs including pruning or nutrient management.

Figure 1. Bunch number, bunch weight, harvest interval, and harvester productivity in BMP and REF blocks at the six project sites.

Better crop recovery in BMP blocks was achieved through implementation of 7-day harvesting rounds (Figure 1). In comparison, the standard harvest interval in collaborating plantations averaged 12 days ranging from 9 to 14 days. Clearly, more harvesters will be needed with the implementation of short harvesting rounds but improvements in the harvester productivity partly compensated time requirements for full crop recovery. There may be a need to review productivity targets and pay rates with BMP harvesting so that harvesters will also share the benefit of the higher average yield in BMP blocks.

The cost differences between the BMP and REF blocks should lessen with continuing implementation, while the effects of other non-harvesting BMPs will start to show positive effects on yield. Thus, it can be expected that the net benefit of BMP will further increase with continuing implementation, provided REF blocks continue being managed in the same way.

Source: Donough CR and Witt C. 2009. Better Crops with Plant Food 2009-1 (in press).