A PRACTICAL GUIDE ON HYBRID OIL PALM PLANTATION: THE BEGINNERS' MANUAL GUIDE

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantation remains one of the most profitable sectors one can invest and get high return of investment within few years. Research has proven that many young people want to invest in oil palm plantation but lack basic knowledge on how to start especially how to get certified hybrid seeds/seedlings, planting and maintenance. This manual provides basic guidelines; oil palm growers can follow to become successful farmers. Every part of oil palm has economic values and global demands for palm oil and palm kernel oil are far beyond current supply. Young people especially those living in tropical regions should take opportunity of new oil palm breeds that yield optimally with short maturity of 30 months to secure their financial freedom for years. Palm oil grows mainly in Africa, Asia, and South America. Global palm oil production is dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia. The two countries produce 85% to 90% of total global oil production. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, followed by Malaysia (2nd), Thailand (3rd), Colombia (4th) and Nigeria (5th). This manual provides comprehensive guidelines on how one can be a multimillionaire through growing of hybrid oil palms. The manual covers basic topics like varieties of oil palm, breeding program, seed germination, where to source for hybrid seeds/seedlings, seed propagation, transplanting, spacing, management/maintenance, harvesting to current challenges facing oil palm growers across the globe. PREFACE Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is the most important global oil crop. Since it was discovered, oil palm remains one of the most important economic trees. Oil palm is the most important global oil crop, accounting about 40% of all traded vegetable oil. Since its economic value was explored, millions of local and hybrid oil palm seedlings are planted on yearly basis in order to meet up with global demand. As world population increases daily, the demand for oil palm derivatives are on the increase. It is key dietary components consumed by over 5 billion people daily especially in Africa, North America, Asia and Latin America. Beside dietary, it also has many other wide range usages. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that obtains from the fruit oil palm trees. Two types of oil produced from oil palm are: crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) The extensive development of oil palm industries in many countries in the tropical regions have been motivated by its extremely high potential productivity. When compared with other oil source plants like soybeans, sunflower, oil palm gives the highest yield of oil per unit area. The increase demand for vegetable oils globally has propelled both government and independent bodies to research and developed hybrid oil palms that take 30 months to start fruiting. In the marketing year, 2021/2022, the global production of palm oil was reported to be around 75.5 million metric tons in April 2022, increasing from 73 million metric tons in 2020/2021 marketing year. Currently, Indonesia and Malaysia count for over 85% of global supply of crude, vegetable and other derivatives of oil palm. There are needs for more investments in the sector to meet up with global demand because market is highly unsaturated.