Machinery and labour are the two major inputs in agriculture. Machines can be developed to help labour improve its productivity. There are two factors in maximizing profit, viz., increasing productivity and reducing cost. One way is to mechanize to improve productivity by reducing the labour required which can result in substantial cost saving. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has developed a motorized cutter, the CantasTM. It has been well received by the industry, being able to more than double labour productivity for harvesting. The only drawback for this cutter is that it can only harvest palms of below 4.50 m. Therefore, a longer cutter is necessary for taller palms. This article describes a new version of the cutter for taller palms of 8 m height.

Main Research: Abdul Razak Jelani