Use of modern technology and innovations to increase the productivity of oil palm smallholders

Abstract

There is an increasing application of technology in the agriculture industry as more innovative inventions become available. The Malaysian government, through MPOB, renders assistance to oil palm smallholders in the adoption of suitable modern technology while providing them technical advisory services either directly or indirectly. Nonetheless, the question remains as to whether the application of such technology has achieved its objective of increasing smallholder productivity in terms of crop and labor input requirements. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the use of modern technology and innovation in increasing the productivity of smallholders in Banting, Selangor. This study employed a quantitative method based on correlation analyses. A total of 167 respondents were sampled. The results showed that the first questionnaire statement, namely ‘Application of modern technology eases work in palm oil production’ attained a mean score of 4.32, corresponding to an opinion ‘Strongly agree’ reached by 77 or 46.1% of the respondents. The analysis of this statement clearly shows that the application of modern technology in the oil palm plantation sector facilitates most of the work in oil palm plantations. This study is different from the other study because it shows which statement makes smallholders accept modern technology in their oil palm plantations to increase the productivity of yields and incomes. Therefore, the use of technology should be practiced by all smallholders in Malaysia to increase their productivity of smallholders.