[O13] Current Issues on Tropical Crops

[O13-03] Agronomic Practices of Oil Palm Smallholders towards Sustainable Development Goal 12

(Invited Speaker)

^○Margaret Chan Kit Yok¹, Suriana Baki¹, Seraphina Anak Dominic Gisong², Siraj Munir Bin Mohammad¹ (1.Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak Branch, Malaysia, 2.Kumpulan Kelestarian Aras 2, Wisma FELCRA, Malaysia)

The increasing demand for palm oil led to rapid expansion with 60% of planted areas from forest conversion between 1990 to 2005 which has led to criticisms on sustainability on biodiversity loss, water pollution and climatic change. The independent smallholders account for 11% of the Malaysia's oil palm industry dominated by the private estates, accounting for 60% and organised small holding scheme of 29%. Mandatory requirements for the Malaysian Sustainability Oil Palm Certification add to independent smallholders' financial burdens. Thus, there is a demand for knowledge on how to increase the average palm oil yield per hectare in a sustainable way. This paper showed evidences that combination of organic approach and reduced rate of chemical fertilizers can sustain economic yield of the oil palm. At the nursery stage, the application of combination of both indigenous or commercial mycorrhiza with NPK chemical fertiliser resulted in at least 11.0%, 17.7% and 32.0% higher N, P and K contents respectively in the palm fronds over NPK chemical fertiliser alone. At immature stage of oil palm in coastal sandy soil, there were no significant differences in N and P contents in the frond after three applications of combination of empty fruit bunch compost with slow release or granulated chemical fertiliser and chemical fertilisers alone. Similarly, at mature stages of oil palm in mineral soil, there were no significant differences in the N, P and K contents in the frond after four applications of combination of empty fruit bunch compost with chemical fertilisers and chemical fertilisers alone.