Please get in touch with us below and we'll get back to you soon. An option to provide land for oil palm planting without threatening the future of tropical rain forests is the rehabilitation of anthropogenic grassland, created by human clearance of natural forest biomes a long time ago. Most oil palm roots are concentrated in the top 50 cm of the peat soil. They include a physical rehabilitation of the soil, a good water management, fertilizing and a good pick of the planted variety. Approximately 90% of world palm oil production takes place in Indonesia and Malaysia. The productivity of oil palms managed by smallholders in peat land are in general still low, at around 10 to 15 tons per hectares per year. If the smallholders want to apply a good management for the cultivation of oil palm on peat soil, then working jointly with companies becomes one of the likely alternatives. With a It is important to prevent the crop from being under water or lack water. BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR OIL PALM CULTIVATION ON PEAT: USING ZEOLITE AS SOIL CONDITIONER 626 Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Malaysia P. O. The physical rehabilitation of the land must be done according to the thickness of the peat layer. CC=canopy cover (see Methods). A sapric peat maturity level was found at the 0 – 20 cm layers of oil palm plantation and the 0 – 10 cm layer of the secondary forest (Table 1). Paludiculture prevents peat soil degradation, as it does not require drainage. The periodic flushings usually continue for two to four years before the conductivity drops below 2000 µmhos cm -1 within the top 45 cm to allow successful planting of oil palms. In comparison, oil palm planted in peat land by large companies already have productivity levels of between 20 to 30 tons per hectares per year. All Rights Reserved. Of these plantations around 20% is grown on peat soils, which used to be covered by peat swamp forests. Jenderal Sudirman Kav. Privacy Policy. Another way to prevent the trees from slapping is by adding minerals in the soil where the tree is being planted. Fertilizer management constitutes the largest field cost item in well-run oil palm plantations in Malaysia. 16Jl. With 400,000 hectares already planted from the area of approximately 1.6 million hectares of peat in Sarawak, food from the palms can reach about 80 … This can be achieved by digging drainage canals that will enable maintaining the water table at the desired depth. The low productivity of palm oil smallholders planting in peat soil are mostly caused by a lack of knowledge and also capital, so that they are not aware or capable to conduct the necessary special treatment for planting oil palm in peat land. This crop requires annual evenly distributed rainfall of 2500 to 4000 mm or 150 to 150 mm monthly. The study was conducted at the oil palm plantation of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) located at Sessang, Sarawak. Researchers now have a clear message: the greatest cause of peat fires are humans. Oil palm plantations keep a high water table at 50-70 cm by following RSPO’s Best Management Practices for oil palm cultivation on peatland so as to obtain better yields. Deep peat initial soil bulk density of drained peat is low with an average of 0.09 gm cc-1 Over the years of development, it had increased to 0.20 gm cc-1 Changes in Bulk Density 15 years after oil palm planting. In the dry season of 2015, fires in Southeast Asia produced more emissions in a few months than the annual output of Japan or Germany; on some days, fires exceeded the daily emissions of the United States[2]. In comparison, oil palm planted in peat land by large companies already have productivity levels of between 20 to 30 tons per hectares per year. This becomes evident from topsoil characteris-tics of eight representative soil types commonly used for oil palm in Southeast Asia (Table 1). In Malaysia, oil palm has been successfully planted on peat soils for two generations and into its third now. 1, May 1999 It it estimated that more than 95 percent of oil palms are grown on acid, low fertility soils. In Malaysia, the recommended annual N fertilizer for immature and … Slit the bottom of the polybag using a sharp knife or blade. Jl. Credit: Photo taken by researcher Stephanie Evers fluxes from two sites of oil palm plantation with different peat characteristics and analyzed the correlation with groundwater level, soil temperature, air temperature, gravimetric water content, peat pH, oxidative reductive potential, and crop age. The management of peat land must at least consider a number of practices that differ from those for planting crops in mineral-high soil. Get our latest news and information directly to your email inbox! The technique of choosing the right variety of crop, with a shorter trunk to enable the peat soil to support the tree and not result in a stanting growth. 21 E Kebayoran Baru If you have any enquiries please AskRSPO or visit our contact page, Unit 13A-1, Level 13A, Menara EtiqaNo.3, Jln Bangsar Utama 159000, Kuala LumpurMalaysia, Sona Topas Tower Lvl. The high yields of palm oil has led to countries producing other types of vegetable oils to feel threatened by palm oil from Indonesia and they have consequently often launched negative campaign against palm oil. Address Years ago, a peat fire was thought to be a natural phenomenon, caused by lightning strikes, for example. Indonesia is fortunate to have the right environment to develop palm oil. Development of oil palm plantations on peat land is therefore not m new. A bilingual platform to serve a healthier and more constructive public discourse on sustainability in the palm oil industry. Mineral soil is mixed with peat soil to fill the hole where the seedlings are planted. Peatlands in their natural state are wet organic soils formed over thousands of years from plant remains, and fall under the classification of organic soils. Dr Ir Suwardi, M.Agr, is a lecturer at the Department of Soil Sciences and Land Resources at the Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). In Southeast Asia, peat swamp forests cover about 250,000 square kilometers, a land area about the size of Michigan. The objectives of cover crops are to conserve soil moisture, minimise peat subsidence, prevent irreversible peat drying and reduce the risk of peat fire. During the rainy seasons, these water gates are left open while in dry seasons, they should remain closely shut. It is important to maintain the water table as around 60 cm in the drainage canals all year round, so that the oil palm planted in the peat land can continue to get enough water. That year, sky-polluting haze affected the health of millions of people, caused 100,000 premature deaths[3], and triggered an estimated US$16 billion in losses in Indonesia alone[4] . Oil palm is currently the most economical perennial crop for planting on peat soils as it gives the best return on investment when properly managed. The drainage required for palm oil cultivation causes peat oxidation, and makes the soil susceptible to fires and floods. The drainage of these carbon-rich organic soils for plantations leads to massive CO2 emissions, soil subsidence, and ecological and social problems. Disclaimer: RSPO standards and other key documents are available for download on this website. Peat soil, with its low PH and low micro and macro nutrient content, are poor soil for growing plants, especially commodity crops in general. Cultivation of oil palm on peat comes with certain challenges, like high CO2 emissions, peat soil subsidence, consequent flooding, and productivity loss. human impact. Peat fires are caused by humans, and can cost human lives. This crop can grow well in almost all types of land as long as there is adequate rainfall, of more than 2,500 mm per year. hydrophobicity of peat soil derived from an oil palm plantation agro-ecosystem and (2) Determine the critical water content of the peat soil environment as it relates to hydrophobicity. 26Karet - Setiabudi, Jakarta Selatan 12920Indonesia, RSPO China, RSPO Europe, RSPO North America, © 2020 Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Table 5: Area of oil palm plantations on: (1) all soil types in Malaysia, 2000-2007..... 26 Table 6: Extent of peat swamp forest (PSF) by State in Peninsular Malaysia. Rewetted peatlands store water, help adapt to a changing climate, and curb off-site drainage impacts on peat swamp forests. Oil palm is best grown in peat land with thin layers of peat, below 50 cm. [1] Miettinen et al (2016). The seedling must placed into the planting hole by carefully, put it in stable or hefty. The experimental site was level and nine plots, each measuring approximately 0.75 hectare were used for the study. Oil palm cultivation has negative effects on peatlands. Only palm oil, rubber and acacia trees, tenacious trees that can grow in poor soil, can thrive on peat land. Over 5 per cent of global CO2 emissions are caused by peatland degradation resulting from drainage. In the past decades, large-scale peat fires in Southeast Asia have increased in frequency and intensity. Intact peatlands should be conserved, and drained peatlands rewetted and restored. 13, No. Stay on top of the industry's news because your informed opinion matters to the palm oil industry. For. Peat land have long been used to grow palm oil by both companies and smallholders because oil palm has shown to be able to grow well in such a poor type of soil as long as the practice is well managed. conversion of forests on peat soil into oil palm plantations. In oil palm plantations at least 6 species of leguminous crops are planted for the benefits they provide. The drainage required for palm oil cultivation causes peat oxidation, and makes the soil susceptible to fires and floods. Calum, phosphor, nitrogen, magnesium and boron fertilizers are the important additives. However, oil palm plantations growing on peat soils are subject to debate concerning the magnitude of CO 2 and CH 4 losses from the peat ( Evers et al., 2017; Wijedasa et al., 2017 ). These plantations around 20 % is grown on peat soil for oil palm plantation land is therefore m! The seedlings are planted can thrive on peat swamp forests hectare were used the! 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