Oil palm plantations are highly dependent on manual labour. It has been estimated that on the average, about 50-man days are required per hectare. In recent years the agricultural sector of the industry has experienced labour shortage problems. As a result numerous operations including harvesting, and other agronomic activities in the plantations have been significantly affected, with an inevitable fall in oil production. Therefore, PORIM had directed its R&D efforts to resolve the labours shortage problem and to find out how certain operations of the plantation can be mechanized with concomitant saving of manual labour.

Main Research: Dr Ma Ah Ngan & Dr Hj Ahmad Hitam