Technical and economic assessment of two harvesting tools for young Elaeis oleifera x E. guineensis oil palms

Abstract

The harvest of oil palm fruit bunches represents 25% of the total cost of production of one metric ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), and nine-tenths of the costs of this process (i.e., harvest) are labor costs. This study was undertaken to analyze and compare the labor productivity and harvesting costs of young oil palm trees of the species Elaeis oleifera x E. guineensis (OxG) using two different cutting tools. The first tool was a chisel, and the second was a mechanized oil palm cutter. From a methodological perspective, we conducted a time and motion study. The results show that the average number of palms harvested by a worker using a chisel was 320 per workday (on average 291 fresh fruit bunches were cut per workday). A worker using a mechanized oil palm cutter (MOPC) harvested 546 palms per workday (on average 551 fresh fruit bunches were cut per workday). Finally, the cost per ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested decreased by 15% following the MOPC; in other words, the implementation of this novel technology is cost-effective.