Optical properties of oil palm Fresh Fruits Bunch (FFB) for optimum harvest-window prediction

Abstract

Oil palm is among the strategic commodity of Indonesian agroindustry. The oil produced from the fresh fruits bunch through several steps of extraction process. The oil palm industry contributes to the advancement of country’s economy, development and human resource. It provides job for more than 50 million Indonesian, directly or through secondary activities. Today, the industry needs to improved its efficiency, to address market competition and global demand. In the upstream region, oil palm plantation still practices outdated method, particularly harvest. Improper harvest decision contributes to national production loss of 15%. This study aimed to identify the optimum time for harvesting the oil palm FFB. When harvested on prime and optimum ripe, the FFB can yield 25-28% of oil extraction rate (OER), much higher than the current 18-20% nation-wide OER. While the FFB is commonly harvest according to its physical properties (fruits’ colour and the number of loose fruits), the visual based observation is subjective and prone to influence by the mental state of the labour. Here, device which can identify the FFB true ripeness is needed to perform proper harvest when the FFB truly obtained its optimum ripe. Our previous studies suggest that, upon grading, the FFB quality can be identified by its optical properties. The same approach opens the possibility to be used when evaluating the FFB for harvest. In this study, the FFB colour model was established to identify the optimum harvest window of FFB under observation.