The decline in the rate of palm oil extraction is due to a great extent to the incomplete collection of loose oil palm fruits. This has worsened with labor shortages, which have been repeatedly mentioned as the most critical factor in ensuring all bunches and loose fruits are harvested and collected. Labour shortage continues to pose the greatest challenge for the oil palm industry. Such shortage will lead to poor harvesting intervals and higher quantities of loose fruits left uncollected. Uncollected loose fruits account for about 3%-5% of bunch weight. Consequently, prolonged failure to collect and process these loose fruits will contribute to further reductions in the oil extraction rate and profits. A study was thus carried out on the approaches of collecting and separating loose fruits and to design a cost-effective device for loose fruits collection.

Main Research: Mohd Solah Deraman