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

IPNI-2005-SEAP-3

09 Mar 2010

2009 Annual Interpretive Summary


The best management practice (BMP) concept for yield intensification in existing mature oil palm plantings has been developed and refined by IPNI and its partners over a period of 8 years. In this approach, a set of site-specific BMPs are identified and implemented in a representative number of full-size management blocks in each estate to achieve crop management objectives related to productivity, profitability, sustainability, and the environment. Through this process, estates identify better ways to implement BMPs for yield intensification, and decisions on larger investments in BMPs are based on practical, commercial-scale evidence.

In 2009, IPNI continued its project on yield intensification in partnership with six collaborating plantations in Sumatra (North, South) and Kalimantan (West, Central, and East), Indonesia. By late 2009, BMP implementation at the six project sites ranged from 25 to 35 months. Yield advantages with BMPs were significant at all projects except Site 1 where current yield is already close to the site’s achievable yield potential. Based on all data from all six sites, annual fruit yield with BMPs was 3.2 t/ha or 14% greater compared to the standard practice. Yield advantages with BMPs ranged from 2.1 to 6.0 t/ha with the exception of Site 1, where the average BMP yield was only 0.4 t/ha higher than the 29.9 t/ha average of the reference blocks. These encouraging yield improvements achieved through the implementation of BMPs at sites broadly representative of the oil palm industry underline the general applicability of the BMP concept. Clearly, a short harvesting interval (HI) and improved crop recovery are the key prerequisites for closing current yield gaps at project sites. Effects of other agronomic BMPs not directly related to crop recovery are yet to be observed. Achieving consistently short HI will be the greatest challenge in yield intensification over a wider area. The approach will be specific to sites in relation to the local cropping trend in particular the difference between peak and trough crop levels.

In 2009, the first training course for estate managers – on using the BMP approach to intensify yield in mature plantations – was conducted in South Sumatra for Sampoerna Agro group. A key priority for 2010 in the on-going project will be determination of oil and kernel contents so that recorded fruit yield can be expressed as oil and kernels. Southeast Asia-03