On Thursday and Friday I was on a visit to an oil palm new development project and also made a visit to a matured oil palm estate. This allowed me to show some of the different aspects. The photo above showed the land clearing and major infrastructure works completed.
A view of the terraces planted with oil palm seedlings.
The photo of the matured oil palm estate showed what the area above will look like in the future.
Any errors made in the new development phase will bear consequences to be suffered for the next 20+ years of the matured oil palm estate. The photo showed the result when the terraces were constructed before the road. The poor harvester will not be able to put the harvested Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) by the roadside. You can compare the second photo (above) where the roads were constructed first then the terraces were constructed; avoiding these hanging terraces.
From the second photo (above), the correct planting distance between the palms during the development phase will prevent these "too-closely planted" palms. The overlap will reduce photosynthesis and reduce the yield from these palms (again for the next 20+ years unless the one in the middle is cut down).
This palm has many FFB to ripen and be harvested in the coming months ...
The FFB are the female flowers after pollination from the pollen from the male flowers. This is a male flower (already old but still with some pollen). Pollination is now done by weevils (a foreign insect brought into Malaysia).
Some harvested FFB (FFB size can be estimated compared to the truck tyre).
Some cut fruits showed the palm oil (in the yellow mesocarp) and the palm kernel oil (in the white palm kernel). The oil extraction process for the 2 oils are different. The 2 oils also have different properties. The palm kernel oil is very similar to coconut oil.
This old palm frond allowed me to try taking a photo with Bokeh (object is clear with a blurred background). The Lumix FZ35 is said to be not very easy to achieve the Bokeh effect.
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