Better Farming Series 24 - The Oil Palm (FAO - INADES, 1977, 40 p.): The plantation: Preparing the site

Better Farming Series 24 - The Oil Palm (FAO - INADES, 1977, 40 p.)

(introduction...)

Preface

Modern oil palm cultivation

(introduction...)

Before starting think things over carefully

Life of the oil palm

The fruits of the oil palm yield oil

Why cultivate oil palms?

Where to cultivate oil palms

The oil palm nursery

(introduction...)

How to make a nursery

Layout of paths and nursery beds

Putting up shelters

The plantation

Preparing the site

Pegging the planting pattern

Planting out the oil palm seedlings

Putting wire netting around seedlings

Looking after the plantation

(introduction...)

How much fertilizer to apply

Protect against insects

Harvesting

Preparing the site

25. In big plantations the forest trees are pulled up with the help of big machines. But often the grower cannot use these machines.

Begin by marking out the boundaries of the plantation. Next, cut down as many trees as you can around the plantation and take all the trees away, so that the fire cannot burn down the whole forest. This is called making a firebreak. Then set fire to the plantation site.

When the fire is over, the soil is bare. You must protect the soil against the sun, for the sun burns the soil and destroys the humus.

At the beginning of the rainy season, sow a cover crop; a mixture of Pueraria javanica Centrosema pubescens, and Calopogonium muconoides. Sow 4 to 6 kilogrammes of seed per hectare.