Transferring Oil Palm Plantation Best Management Practices (BMP) from Southeast Asia to West Africa

IPNI-2010-GBL-53

27 Mar 2014

2013 Annual Interpretive Summary


The oil palm sector in West Africa is developing extensively, yet the plantations are under-performing with low yields (averaging about one-third of the optimum). In 2013, Best Management Practices (BMP) were implemented in three plantations in Ghana, West Africa, with the aim of identifying and implementing improved agronomic management practices that meet site-specific needs, and to provide opportunities for enhanced productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability. Parallel sets of comparable oil palm blocks representative of a plantation were selected at three plantations. Site-specific BMPs were introduced in one block, while the other block maintained standard estate practices (i.e., considered as a control or reference block; REF). The experimental set up is designed to provide an understanding of the maximum site yield potential and the magnitude of yield gaps due to poor harvesting and management, as well as plant nutrient constraints during the production phase.

Field audits were held every 2 to 3 months at each plantation in order to monitor the progress of BMP activities and to provide new action points in order to address these existing yield gaps. The overall magnitude of block performance was reflected in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production. FFB was harvested at regular intervals from the BMP blocks (4 rounds/month), and irregular intervals for REF blocks (2 to 4 rounds/month). FFB production for 2013 was taken as the sum for all months, and yield gaps between treatments were taken as the difference of the total production. By the end of 2013, BMP blocks performed better than the REF blocks, with an average difference of 0.9 to 1.0 t/ha for all estates. The increase in productivity was mainly influenced by a shorter harvesting interval, which ensures that more crop is recovered from the field. Soil and leaf analysis were performed in mid-2013 which suggested the presence of nutrient deficiencies in all estates, particularly of P, K and B. Fertilizer recommendations for 2014 have been increased in order to rectify these prevailing deficiencies. It is expected that the combined effect of improved agronomic and nutrient management will result in even greater fertilizer responses by the end of 2014.