Post Harvest Loss during storage of Empty Palm Fruit Bunches

Introduction
Higher demand for Palm Oil will be covered by higher yields per hectare, reduction of post harvest loss or increase of hectares. The latter will likely happen at the expense of rain forests and indigenous communities, so it is worth having a look at the first two. Oil Palm fruits are harvested by cutting the fruit bunch of the tree. This Fresh Fruit Bunch is then transported to the mill for threshing and processing into Crude Palm Oil. During threshing, the fruits are separated from the stalks and fibres using steam and water. The fruits are then further processed into Crude Palm Oil. The Empty Fruit Bunches, though, still contain plenty of value which is lost when not managed properly.

Symptoms of Post Harvest Loss
Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) piled on the side of the road are symptoms of Post Harvest Loss. The EFBs still contain some oil, but also mineral nutrients. As one study shows, most potassium, magnesium and boron are washed away by rainwater within two weeks [1]. These nutrients are needed as input at the Palm Oil plantation as a substitute for fertilisers that need to be bought on the market. The EFBs eventually return to the plantation, either fresh, burnt or composted.

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC-BY-SA-3.0

Causes of the symptoms
Temporary storage may be required because spreading operations at the plantation are not organised appropriately or because there is no equipment to efficiently remove the EFBs from the mill back to the plantation. Mechanical spreading may not be possible when rain has made the soil too soft for the machines. Millers should be made aware of the potential loss that improper storage causes. If storage cannot be avoided, at least it should be in such a way that rainwater would not take off with valuable nutrients.

Extension strategy
I would look for Best Practices from smallholders and millers that optimise return flows that minimise need for storage. Also I would find Best Practices for safe storage where needed. Storage solutions should be low cost. Large industrial mills are able to collect rainwater and process it to retrieve nutrients. This solution is not available for small mills. To implement solutions I would work with local government, NGOs, cooperations of smallholders and millers. Cooperations and villagers could use a train-the-trainer system where ambassador farmers could showcase the solutions in a way that other smallholders could easily copy. One of the communication channels could be Youtube. Best Practices can be explained using video in the native language. For translation services I would source the network of academic linguists that have done fieldwork in that area and know which speakers speak a language variety that is most commonly accepted.

[1] STUDY OF MINERAL NUTRIENT LOSSES FROM OIL PALM EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES DURING TEMPORARY STORAGE
http://palmoilis.mpob.gov.my/publications/joprv16n1-sloan.pdf