8 Keys To Management Of Oil Palm Plantations on Peat - Oil palm plantations in Indonesia stretch from Sumatra to Sulawesi. In almost all corners of the country, oil palm plantations are established on peatlands. Peatlands have an important role from an economic and ecological perspective. This land is home to biodiversity and protected populations as well as water suppliers, forest product providers, and flood controllers. In the implementation process, peatland is used as an alternative to mineral land as a recommended area for oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
Plantations opened on this land area are only allowed on degraded land, while for forest areas, peatlands are maintained as peat forests. This is to reduce the occurrence of drought and high greenhouse gas emissions caused by clearing plantation areas by burning and destroying environmental ecosystems.
The location of the degraded forest will be used as an area for oil palm cultivation.
There are several things that need to be considered before starting the planting process, namely:
Land adjustment
Cultivating this type of palm on peat areas needs consideration and it must be ensured that the land is suitable for oil palm cultivation. The most important thing and keep in mind is that the location to be used does not conflict with regulations and is suitable as a place of business. The success of cultivation depends on the process of caring for and managing the garden well. The influencing factors are the maturity of the peat soil, the depth of the pyrite layer, and the frequency and duration of inundation. Good irrigation management will spearhead the success of irrigation in this area or not.
Good land clearing
Locations that tend to be dry will cause the forest to burn easily and cause severe drought when the dry season arrives. Therefore, the management of the garden without burning or the zero burning method needs to be considered. Burning the area indiscriminately will reduce the nutrients contained in the organic matter that may remain. Peat fires will have an adverse impact on the quality of plantations, human health, and the loss of economic value for residents around the burned areas.
Water management
This needs to be considered considering that the area which is rich in organic elements is dry and there is very little water capacity in the soil, so a proper drainage system is needed to keep the land wet and have water reserves. Water management includes setting the water level to be maintained at 50 – 75cm, preventing drought in the dry season, preventing pyrite oxidation, and preventing salt accumulation. Other parts of irrigation management also include forts that function to hold back the tide, as well as ditches to collect and channel water, and sluice gates that function to maintain the water level and hold back the tides.
Gamut compaction
It has the aim of compacting the soil so that it has good support for the plants so that they are not easily swayed (leaning).
Road construction and improvement
This includes backfilling of 20 – 30 cm mineral soil, leveling and compaction, and hardening with sand and gravel/stone.
Implementation of good technical culture
In implementing a good technical culture, things that need to be considered are efforts to control production, control weeds, pests, and diseases, maintain roads, improve harvest quality and maintain facilities used for the harvesting process.
Fertilization
So far, what has happened in plantations is the use of chemical fertilizers, which focus on tree production, not on improving soil quality. Whereas it is important to bind a number of soil elements needed by plants such as the use of organic fertilizer Super MOAF® produced by PT Propadu Konair Tarahubun (Plantation Key Technology / PKT) which has been proven to improve plant quality.
Monitoring of hotspots
Anticipation of the dry season that triggers drought in plantations established on peat soil needs to be considered by setting up towers to monitor emerging hotspots as well as establishing fire hazard level markers and establishing an organization that controls the rate of hotspot additions.
The eight things above are the most important references before starting the work process. The key to the success of a plantation depends on how each person manages and develops it well without harming any party.