Mechanization in Oil Palm Harvesting

Harvesting is an important process in oil palm plantation main objective of harvesting is to get fresh fruit bunches with excellent oil content and quality and can get the maximum profit. During harvesting the worker need mechanization to assist in collection of oil palm bunches. Currently there is many types of technological or mechanized tools for aiding the harvesting of palm oil. This paper is to grasp detail understanding on the history of mechanization used in oil palm plantation specifically for harvesting in Malaysia. For the traditional and manual method, wheelbarrow is only the best mechanization in assisted collection of oil palm bunches. It is because wheelbarrow can pass through all types of road surface, the gradient of slope, and type of soil. Wheelbarrow is a machine that is easy to work with and does not give pollution to environment. However wheelbarrow use more energy of worker to pull the wheelbarrow with full capacity. To reduce the use of worker energy, buffalo cart are used to replace the wheelbarrow. Buffalo cart can help to do human work by pulling the cart that full fill with oil palm bunch. Beside can reduce the use of energy, it can reduce the cost of worker and can make the time more short in harvesting system. After that, mechanization assisted in harvesting system is improve by using engine that is mechanical buffalo (Badang and Rhyno). Mechanical buffalo can help human work in plantation sector to more faster. Mechanical buffalo also can reduce the labour cost and can increase the productivity of worker.