There is a notion among foreign NGOs that oil palm is grown without any proper guidelines and forests are arbitrarily cleared where oil palm is grown as to the whims and fancies of the planter. While there might not be strict guidelines about two decades ago, various guidelines and procedures have been put in place so that oil palm is grown with the environment in mind.

The other factor is the planting process of the oil palm so that minimum disruption is effected. Land is often cleared arbitrarily and the plantation company taking its own time to carry out planting. This could result in the deterioration of the environment causing serious damages to the flora and fauna found there. When felling is carried out, plantation companies are requested not to implement blanket felling whereby all the trees are felled at one go. Total clearing of the land is avoided and only areas that are to be planted or the areas where the planting rows are situated are cleared leaving the natural vegetation in place; thus causing minimal disturbance to the vegetation in the location. Trees in the ravine and discarded areas are also not felled but left there as a form of preservation. When outright clearing is carried out, it not only causes damage to the flora, small mammals such as monkeys and squirrels lose their habitat. However, they are still able to adapt to the new environment due to the forage materials that are still available in abundance in the locations that are not totally cleared which enables these small mammals to survive. Apart from that, natural vegetations that are found in the inter rows are not cleared straight away as they form a temporary habitat for these small mammals and also become a buffer to prevent soil erosion.

Frequently, immediately after the trees are felled, the plantation companies have to plant up the planting rows with cover crops to prevent erosion of the top soil. Careful terracing of the hilly areas is also carried out to prevent erosion. The factors that determine soil erosion are the ferocity of the rain and the potential for erosion of the soil as some soils have loose textures which are easily loosened during heavy rain and washed down the slopes. The slope of the terrain also determine the level of erosion as a steep terrain can be easily eroded compared with undulating or flat land. In the same manner, the canopy of the trees that are not felled help to act as a catch before the rain water falls to the ground. By preserving the trees in the gullies and discard areas from being felled help in containing the speed of the water that flows into the low areas and gullies which could result in serious soil erosion.

Similarly road construction is planned in such a way that they do not cause much disruption to the land. During the preliminary stages when the site is cleared and the roads are built, there is a possibility of damage to the soil particularly when total clearing is carried out with all the vegetation being removed. This normally happens when roads are constructed along slopes and bridges where there is total exposure to the surface of the soil. As there are no vegetations to protect the surfaces of these roads, extensive erosion could occur. This could be prevented if road construction is carried out during dry weather so that by the time the rainy weather sets in, the top surface of the road is hardened causing less erosion. Apart from that it is essential to build proper side drains which could carry excess water that flows from the hill top that  could cause severe damage to the slopes resulting in land slides. Where ever drains run under the roads, the culverts that are constructed should have the capacity to allow maximum amount of water to be carried into the main drains as these could result in flooding of the area causing serious damage to the flora and fauna which are difficult to replace. To prevent severe erosion of the slopes, plants such as stylosynthesis and vettiver should be planted and well established before the rainy season as they help in the prevention of erosion of the slopes. Apart from that, legume covers which establish very fast could also be planted on the slopes during the dry season so that by the time the rain sets in the covers are well established to prevent soil erosion. All these are preventive measures that need to be carefully planned and implemented in order to preserve the soil and the slopes in the long run.

During the planting process and also in the process of maintaining the plantation, agro chemicals are often used to control the proliferation of weeds and pests. Chemicals that are used as herbicides and pesticides could cause water pollution. Chemicals that are sprayed to control weeds and pests are leached into the soil or carried into the rivers and drains causing destruction to the habitat in these waterways. This is not ideal and less invasive and more ecological methods of weed and pest control are encouraged.

The other factor is that there are bountiful microorganisms that are found under the surface of the soil which carry out various aerobic activities that enrich the soil. By arbitrarily using agro chemicals there is a possibility of killing these microorganisms. Plantations have found various methods and ways to keep minimum usage of chemicals in the plantations.  One way is to carry out slashing of the weeds to keeps them under control. Another method is to use roto slashers which are used to trim down the weeds and herbs. Some plantations allow soft grasses to grow in the inter and planting rows as they are much easier to control and could be easily controlled. This becomes important because as the cover crops die down, they are generally replaced by other grasses and woody plants. By encouraging soft grasses, they are easier to control and need no chemicals as they could be controlled using roto slashers or even manual slashers.  Having soft grasses in the plantations also enables the rearing of livestock such as goats and cattle. Apart from that, the inter rows of plantations are covered with vegetation such as leguminous cover crops, grasses, broad leaf species and ferns which form naturalised pasture and can be put to full use for the rearing of livestock. Those mentioned above consists about 60 to 80 different plant species that grow naturally in the plantations and about 70% of these could be used as forage for rearing cattle. Plantation owners who rear cattle could cut their cost of weedicide by as much as 40% if they integrate the rearing of cattle or sheep in their plantations.

This result in a direct reduction in their maintenance cost in terms of chemicals and labour employed to spray weedicide. Another factor that needs to be considered is that plantations have ample land which may not be optimally used and by integrating with animal husbandry, the plantation land could be optimally used to up to 70 – 80%.

Most plantations have opted for Integrated Pest Management approaches to manage pests. By using the Integrated Pest Management approach, plantations try to use minimise the use of pesticide to eliminate pests in the plantations. A new method of biological control of Ortyctes rhinoceros bettle is by infecting a healthy beetle with pathogens and then releasing them into the field and through the process spread the pathogen among the other beetles. In the absence of a predator which could consume these beetles, the above method have been found to be effective. The barn owl has also been successfully used to control rats, which are persistent pests which can severely damage  both mature and immature palms. In the young palms they attack the meristematic tissues which could retard the growth of the young palms and in the mature palms the rats eat both the ripe and unripe fruits. Rats can also cause damage to the fronds of the oil palm. Nesting boxes are placed in various places in the field where the owls would occupy them and use them for breeding. This method has successfully cut the cost of using baits to kill the rats and have proven to be very environmental friendly.  THE END.

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