Best Management Practice for Maximum Economic Yield in All Growth Stages of Oil Palm

The current project was initiated to implement, test and refine the Best Management Practice (BMP) concept for yield intensification and to increase productivity, profitability, and sustainability of palm oil production. The project is being implemented between 2011 and 2019 in all growth stages of oil palm, including nursery, immature, and mature development phases of the crop The BMP treatments are developed in full-sized management blocks in two collaborating plantations in Sumatra (Indonesia) and Sabah (Malaysia) in re-plantings of previous crops by IPNI and its plantation partners. Results from the BMP implementation are compared to those achieved under standard plantation practices in reference blocks. At the outset of the research, reference and BMP blocks had similar conditions and performance. There are a total of 15 blocks in Sabah and 10 blocks in Sumatra, each block averaging 25 ha.

In Sabah, all five replications of the nursery stage have been completed in December 2016 with the field planting of replication five. Two of the three blocks of the third replication entered the mature stage in 2016 (harvest started in Nov-2016), joining the six blocks of the first two replications in the mature stage. The six blocks of replications 4 and 5 are still in the immature phase in the field. At the second site in South Sumatra, eight blocks of replications one to four came into the mature stage, with harvesting started between January to July 2016. The two blocks of rep five are still in the immature phase.

Analyses of the nursery stage data continued in 2016, with an article published in Better Crops 2016. 100(4): 16-18

This project is unique in its design as the treatments are developed in full-sized management blocks, and includes all growth stages of the oil palm that are monitored over a period of at least eight years. Through this process, estates can identify better ways to implement BMPs for yield intensification, and decisions on larger investments in BMPs are based on practical, commercial-scale evidence.