Oil Palm Area Research Articles

Analysis of Smallholders’ Progress in Implementing Sustainable Management in North Sumatra, Indonesia

The significant increase in oil palm areas has resulted in more concerns to the environmental issues - as majority of farming activities were not conducted in sustainable ways. To address the environmental issues, the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) organization has formulated principles and criterias (PnC) for sustainable practices of the oil palm plantation as a guideline, whereby it has to be adhered by all parties involved, including the smallholders. The study is therefore conducted to analyze the sustainable management implementation among smallholders in North Sumatra. In total, 320 and 137 schemed and independent smallholders from four oil palm plantations centers in North Sumatra were interviewed in 2012 and 2018 to see their progress. The levels of implementation for each group were determined based on their scores for each of the criteria, and were compared with the independent sample t-test. The influencing factors for implementation levels were estimated by using multinomial logit model. The results showed that the level of implementation for both schemed and independent smallholders were still low in both 2012 and 2018. Education, experience and participation were identified as factors that significantly influenced their sustainable management implementation levels. Therefore, it is suggested that trainings should be emphasized to improve the sustainable management implemenatation among oil palm smallholders.

Mapping oil palm plantation expansion in Malaysia over the past decade (2007–2016) using ALOS-1/2 PALSAR-1/2 data

ABSTRACTMalaysia is one of the major oil palm producing regions in the world, with rapid growth over recent decades. While this expansion has boosted socio-economic development, it has also caused severe ecological problems: deforestation and the use of fire to clear secondary forest have damaged the balance of regional ecosystems and the carbon cycle. In this study, oil palm mapping in Malaysia over the past decade (2007–2016) was produced annually, using Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)-1 Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR)-1 (2007–2010) images and ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 (2015 and 2016) images at 100 m resolution with maximum likelihood classifier-based supervised classification. Two independent verification systems (testing samples and Malaysian Palm Oil Board statistics) were used to evaluate the mapping accuracy. The average overall accuracy for the six years was 94.62% and the accuracy of oil palm mapping was greater than 83%. The results show the dynamics of oil palm distribution from 2007 to 2016. Two approaches (i.e. pixel counting (PC) and error matrix-based model-assisted (EM)) were used to estimate the oil palm area from the maps. In total, over the past decade, the Malaysian oil palm area increased by 69.25% from 4.00 million ha (Mha) in 2007 to 6.77 in 2016 with PC method (EM method increased by 85.76% ± 15.36%, from 3.73 ± 0.19 Mha in 2007 to 6.90 ± 0.22 Mha), with an annual average increase of 6.93% (EM: 8.58% ± 1.54). This exceeds the MPOB estimates of growth from 5.00 Mha in 2011 to 5.74 Mha in 2016, an annual average increase of 2.47%. For the oil palm plantations mapping in the whole Malaysia, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm outperformed Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) in terms of mapping accuracy and computation cost.

Safeguarding forests from smallholder oil palm expansion by more intensive production? The case of Ngwei forest (Cameroon)

Cameroon currently produces 230,000 tons/year of palm oil making it the 3rd largest African and 13th largest global palm oil producer. The country's 193,860 ha of mostly non-industrial oil palm plantations, which are often characterized by archaic production methods, will likely expand significantly along with the anticipated increase of the annual palm oil production by 2025. Their continued expansion represents a threat to forest landscapes, wildlife biodiversity and the environment. Using the example of the Ngwei forest area, one of the hot spots of oil palm growing in Cameroon, this study evaluates the social welfare created by undertaking this activity and the land area that could be spared from deforestation through increasing productivity of non-industrial oil palm plantations. The field survey results indicated that, small-scale non-industrial producers used only between 1 and 30 percent of the inputs used by large-scale producers (skilled labour, mineral fertilizer, high-yield variety seedling, pesticide) and recorded only a quarter oil palm yield (5 tons of fresh fruit bunches per ha as compared to 19.3 tons/ha). The Cobb-Douglas production function showed a higher factor productivity for small-scale plantations. The baseline results from the non-linear programming model indicated a negative social welfare and revealed land and patch of traditional forest trees retained on farms as the most important production factors. Using the counterfactual of land sparing through non-industrial oil palm intensification as a reference scenario, the social welfare became positive and 75% of oil palm area could be reforested. The results also showed that a positive social welfare would be generated if a modest rebound effect occurred. However, as private and social benefits of intensified non-industrial oil palm cultivation exceeded the opportunity cost of forest conversion, improving the adoption of more productive inputs by farmers could prove to further increase pressure on the remaining primary forest areas. Hence, effective environmental governance and complementary policies will be essential in enforcing a reduction of oil palm area and the afforestation of abandoned lands.

Do wealthy farmers implement better agricultural practices? An assessment of implementation of Good Agricultural Practices among different types of independent oil palm smallholders in Riau, Indonesia

Palm oil has become a leading vegetable oil over the past 30 years and smallholder farmers in Indonesia, with more than 12 million hectare the world’s largest producer of palm oil, have massively engaged in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation. In Sumatra, where more than 60% of Indonesian palm oil is cultivated, smallholders currently cover roughly 50% of the oil palm area. The rapid expansion of palm oil however did not happen without controversy. In current efforts by the Indonesian government, NGO's and private sector to improve sector performance, smallholders are often characterized as the Achilles heel of the oil palm sector due to poor practices and low yields compared to companies. However, ‘oil palm smallholders’ is a container concept and there has been only limited research into smallholder diversity beyond the organised versus independent farmer dichotomy. This research delves into the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) among seven types of independent smallholders in Rokan Hulu regency, Riau province. The research area consisted of a relative established agricultural area on mineral soils and a relative frontier, mostly on peat. Smallholder types ranged from small local farmers to large farmers who usually reside in urban areas far from their plantation and regard oil palm cultivation as an investment opportunity. The underlying hypothesis is that larger farmers have more capital and therefore implement better agricultural practices than small farmers, who are usually more cash constrained. A wide range of methods was applied, including farmer and farm surveys, remote sensing, tissue analysis and photo interpretation by experts. These methods provided data on fertilizer use, nutrient conditions in oil palms, planting material, planting patterns, and other management practices in the plantations. Results show that yields are poor, implementation of GAP are limited and there is much room for improvement among all farmer types. Poor planting materials, square planting patterns, and limited nutrient applications were particularly prevalent. This implies that farmers across different typologies opt for a low-input low-output system for a myriad of reasons and that under current conditions, initiatives such as improving access to finance or availability of good planting material alone are unlikely to significantly improve the productivity and sustainability of the smallholder oil palm sector.

Status of Pest, <i>Oryctes rhinoceros</i> and Its Natural Enemies in the Independent Smallholder Treated with Different Insecticides

A field study was carried out at Tangkak, Malaysia regarding <i>Oryctes rhinoceros’s</i> infestation and its natural enemies after being treated with selected pesticides from January until October 2017. The objective of this study to examine the effect of different insecticides usages with the presences of <i>Oryctes rhinoceros</i> including unteated area and population of Oryctes’s natural enemy in the oil palm areas of smallholders. Three treatments with four replicates were applied in the selected oil palm area, namely Cypermethrin, Carbofuran and Untreated (without chemical). Twelve smallholders with three different insecticides used were chosen randomly and twelve samples were taken as replicates. Effects of the beetles’ population over the chemical’s treatments were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) (SPSS - version 23). The results dramatically revealed that the least presence of <i>Oryctes rhinoceros</i> was detected at Untreated area with total mean of 0.21, followed by Carbofuran with total mean of 2.63 and Cypermethrin with 3.12. The result of this study indicated that <i>Oryctes rhinoceros</i> in Tangkak, Johor has developed resistance to the insecticides used by the growers due to high frequency of similar type of chemical. These insecticides had no significant effect towards the natural enemy found in oil palm area in Tangkak which is <i>Platymeris laevicollis</i>. These natural enemies also showed no relationship directly with the presences of <i>Oryctes rhinoceros</i> due to low diversity of plant species or particularly lack of shelter.

Optical and radar remote sensing data for forest cover mapping in Peninsular Malaysia

This study aims to map forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia using satellite images as deforestation is of concern in the recent decades, and is an important environmental issue for the future too. The Carnegie Landsat Analysis System‐Lite (CLASlite) program was used in this study to detect forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia using Landsat satellite data. The results of the study show that CLASlite algorithm misclassified some oil palm, rubber and urban areas as forest vegetation. A reliable forest cover map was produced by first combining Landsat and ALOS PALSAR images to identify oil palm, rubber and urban areas, and then subsequently removing them. The HH and HV polarization data of ALOS PALSAR (threshold method) could detect oil palm plantations with 85.26 per cent of overall accuracy. For urban area detection, Enhance Build up Index (EBBI) using spectral bands from Landsat provided higher overall accuracy of 94 per cent. These methods produced a forest cover reading of 5 914 421 ha with an overall classification accuracy of 94.5 per cent. The forest cover (including rubber areas) detected in this study is 0.38 per cent higher than the percentage of 2010 forest cover detected by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia. The technique described in this paper presents an alternative and viable approach for updating forest cover maps in Malaysia.

Economic Impact from the Existence of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) in Muadzam Shah Town, Pahang, Malaysia: An Input-Output Approach

Muadzam Shah is a small town in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia, established in 1979 by the South-East Pahang Development Authority (DARA). It is a quiet and tranquil agricultural based economy area and is a brainchild of Malaysia’s second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. The advent of University Tenaga Nasional in 2001 had changed the landscape of the local economy. Following the concept of “Town University”, UNITEN has successfully contributed to amplify the local economy into a greater level, from the oil-palm industry area to a multi-sectoral economy such as retailing sector, food industries, hospitality as well as healthcare industry. Besides, UNITEN also serves as a medium of community and intellectual development between the academia and the society. By adopting Leontief input-output approach, this paper is designed to determine the economic multiplier effect that students and faculty staffs have on the local economy and community in Muadzam Shah.

FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INTERCROPPING MAIZE AND SOYBEAN ON IMMATURE OIL PALM

Maize and soybean can be planted for intercropping on immature oil palm, however its financial and economycal aspects have not been widely studied. This study was aimed to analyze the financial and economic aspects of intercropping of maize and soybean on immature oil palm, level of land use efficiency, and comparison of efficiency between monolculture and intercropping system. The study located in Sorolangun Experimental Station, District of Sorolangun, Jambi. Methods used in the study were farming business analysis, Revenue Cost Ratio (RCR), Return on Investments (ROI), Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), and Land Equivalent Optimize Ratio (LOER). The results showed that maize had a profit level of Rp 9,676,564/ha/growing season, RCR 1.76; ROI 188.28% (three growing seasons per year), while soybean had a profit level of Rp 4,059,352/ha/growing season, RCR 1.51 and ROI 75.22% (three growing seasons per year). Based on these results, intercropping of maize and soybean on immature oil palm are economically and financially feasible. For the land use efficiency, corn LER value for corn and soybean was 0.95 and 0.85, respectively, showing that yield of maize and soybean from intercropping system (effective land area of ​​7,200 m2 per ha of oil palm area) was 95% and 85% when compared to monoculture system. The LOER value of corn and soybeans per ha was 1.32 and 1.18, respectively, which showed that corn and soybeans growing on intercropping system with immature oil palm were more efficient than monoculture system at the same size of land. Based on those comparative analysis of economic values, financial, and land use efficiency, corn was a better alternative crop for intercorpping on immature oil palm than soybean.

Land use change in Kelantan: Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports

Abstract Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an essential process in minimizing the adverse environmental impact and to ensure sustainable land use. In Malaysia, under Section 34A, Environmental Quality Act 1974, the EIA was made compulsory for any project that can be a threat to the environment. All EIA reports require approval from the Department of Environment prior to the project commencement. This study argues that land use change for agriculture and logging in Kelantan has a direct connection on the approved EIA. The objectives of this study is to identify a list of EIA reports that have been previously approved in Kelantan since 2000 to 2015; and to analyze the EIA reports embracing the trends of approval, the type of project, territory involved, the consultant involved, the time of approval, potential impacts and mitigation measures. This study had been reviewed 192 EIA report in DOE Kelantan and covered year 2000 to 2015. The review process to look at the type of project, territory involved, the consultant involved, the time of approval, potential impacts and mitigation measures. It’s covered three district of Tanah Merah, Kuala Krai and Gua Musang. To date, a total of 222 EIA reports have been approved in Kelantan. The results showed a notable increment in the approval trend of EIA reports. A total of 149 conducted EIA projects are fall within the territory of Gua Musang. Majority of the approvals are granted to agriculture and logging projects. Majority projects have passed over the area of secondary forest, oil palm and rubber plantations, permanent reserve forest and the watershed of tributaries of Sungai Kelantan. Land-clearing activities for agriculture and logging on a large scale have a significant impact to environmental change in Kelantan. Keywords : agriculture, deforestation, environment impact assessment, Environmental Quality Act 1974, floods risk, land use change

Conserving predators across agricultural landscapes in Colombia: habitat use and space partitioning by jaguars, pumas, ocelots and jaguarundis

AbstractLoss and degradation of natural habitats continue to increase across the tropics as a result of agricultural expansion. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand their effects, and the distribution and habitat requirements of wildlife within human-modified landscapes, to support the conservation of threatened species, such as felids. We combined camera trapping and land cover data into occupancy models to study the habitat use and space partitioning by four sympatric felid species in an agricultural landscape in Colombia. Land use in the area includes cattle ranching and oil palm cultivation, the latter being an emerging land use type in the Neotropics. Factors determining species occupancy were the presence of wetlands for jaguars (positive effect); water proximity for pumas (positive effect); and presence of pastures for ocelots and jaguarundis (negative effect). Only ocelots were occasionally recorded in oil palm areas. Our results suggest that to align development with the conservation of top predators it is crucial to maintain areas of forest and wetland across agricultural landscapes and to restrict agricultural and oil palm expansion to modified areas such as pastures, which are of limited conservation value. Because there is no spatial segregation between the felid species we studied, conservation strategies that benefit all of them are possible even in modified landscapes.

Sustainability of African Oil Palm Agriculture in a Changing Climatic Environment

Non-governmental organizations often claim that those countries growing oil palm are responsible for deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Nevertheless, demand for palm oil has kept on growing in Africa and worldwide due to the ever-growing populations and to the high demand for palm oil numerous food and non-food uses. In 2018, African demands for oils and fats are estimated at 30.64 million tonnes. Assuming that 50% of the continent’s demands were to be satisfied with palm oil, mature oil palm areas would have to be 7.547 million hectares at the current palm oil yield of 2.03 t/ha. Growing demand for palm oil will result in expansion of oil palm plantation in new forest areas. In Africa, further challenges facing oil palm agriculture are poor yields of oil palm resulting from (i) limited technical knowhow on the establishment and management of plantations, (ii) a marked dry season of 2-5 months per year, and (iii) unambitious oil palm development programmes. Fortunately, oil palm ranked first in oil production per unit area with a high theoretical oil yield potential (18 t/ha). High-yield oil palm agriculture could be harnessed to meet the growing demand for food without destroying more natural habitat. In 2016, 609 000 ha would have been enough for the 9 recorded African oil palm-growing countries to produce their 2.434 million tonnes of palm oil production at 4 t/ha against 1.198 million hectares effectively harvested with an average yield of 2.031 t/ha. High-yield on-farm activities are recommended, from the site selection to the harvest of ripe fresh fruit bunch to (i) ensure economic and environmental sustainability of oil palm fields, (ii) consolidate the African oil palm sector, and (iii) prepare its shift to an African oil palm industry, an ambitious vision on which sustainability of the palm oil business depends.

Fertilizer management effects on oil palm yield and nutrient use efficiency on sandy soils with limited water supply in Central Kalimantan

Identifying optimal fertilizer management to ensure high nutrient use efficiency is important to reduce negative environmental impacts in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation. A 4-year fertilizer trial was established in an oil palm plantation, located at a sandy area with occasional monthly water deficit in Central Kalimantan. We examined the responses of oil palm yield and nutrient use efficiency to fertilizer application frequency (standard frequency of 1–2 times yr−1 versus 4 times yr−1) and rate (standard rate of 136, 12, and 200 kg ha−1 yr−1 of N, P and K, respectively versus 80% of standard rate). There were no treatment effects on annual yield in fresh fruit bunch, bunch number, or individual bunch weight. Increasing fertilizer frequency did not increase nutrient use efficiency at the last 2 years of the trial. In contrast, reducing fertilizer rate resulted in higher nutrient use efficiency in K, compared to the standard treatment and increasing fertilizer frequency. Average concentrations of N, P, K, Mg, Ca, and Cl in leaflet under all treatments were above critical levels both in the beginning and at the end of the trial. Monthly yield in fresh fruit bunch correlated positively with soil water balance with correlation coefficients of 0.24–0.29, during the developmental period of inflorescence sex differentiation at 28–30 months before fruit maturity. Our study provides useful information for fertilizer management optimization in sandy areas with occasional water deficit, corresponding to most of the new expansion areas of oil palm in Southeast Asia.

Single-Tree Detection in High-Resolution Remote-Sensing Images Based on a Cascade Neural Network

Traditional single-tree detection methods usually need to set different thresholds and parameters manually according to different forest conditions. As a solution to the complicated detection process for non-professionals, this paper presents a single-tree detection method for high-resolution remote-sensing images based on a cascade neural network. In this method, we firstly calibrated the tree and non-tree samples in high-resolution remote-sensing images to train a classifier with the backpropagation (BP) neural network. Then, we analyzed the differences in the first-order statistic features, such as energy, entropy, mean, skewness, and kurtosis of the tree and non-tree samples. Finally, we used these features to correct the BP neural network model and build a cascade neural network classifier to detect a single tree. To verify the validity and practicability of the proposed method, six forestlands including two areas of oil palm in Thailand, and four areas of small seedlings, red maples, or longan trees in China were selected as test areas. The results from different methods, such as the region-growing method, template-matching method, BP neural network, and proposed cascade-neural-network method were compared considering these test areas. The experimental results show that the single-tree detection method based on the cascade neural network exhibited the highest root mean square of the matching rate (RMS_Rmat = 90%) and matching score (RMS_M = 68) in all the considered test areas.

Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa

Despite growing awareness about its detrimental effects on tropical biodiversity, land conversion to oil palm continues to increase rapidly as a consequence of global demand, profitability, and the income opportunity it offers to producing countries. Although most industrial oil palm plantations are located in Southeast Asia, it is argued that much of their future expansion will occur in Africa. We assessed how this could affect the continent's primates by combining information on oil palm suitability and current land use with primate distribution, diversity, and vulnerability. We also quantified the potential impact of large-scale oil palm cultivation on primates in terms of range loss under different expansion scenarios taking into account future demand, oil palm suitability, human accessibility, carbon stock, and primate vulnerability. We found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm). These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.

SISTEM INFORMASI TAUKE SAWIT ONLINE UNTUK MENGHINDARI MONOPOLI HARGA DI DESA SENAMA NENEK

Palm oil is a material that can be used as an alternative to create a large enough employment either trade business, service business and industry. Generating from the area of ​​oil palm in Senama Nenek village reached 4849,357, this gives the definition that the agricultural sector is one of the leading commodities in Senama Nenek village. On each head of the family the average has an oil palm with an area of ​​2-3 Ha. many businesses are eyeing the business of buying and selling called "Tauke Sawit". Taukejualan Business Strategy average by way of cash, money, and also for the results in school by Tauke palm can no longer switch to another Tauke or already monopolized the price. In order to avoid the price monopoly, there needs to be a solution by creating an online information system, the user of the system is palm tree, fruit collector (PB) as a palm mill, farmer, and village government (PEMDES) as business supervisor. Expected results are information disclosure and avoid the bondage of price monopoly from palm oil.

Towards global oil palm plantation mapping using remote-sensing data

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, palm oil, which forms one of the world’s major bulk feedstock and oil crops, has been cultivated at an increasing scale to meet new demand. Oil palm expansion has driven not only socio-economic development but also serious ecological problems and environmental pollution through deforestation and fires to clear the forests. Uneconomic oil palm plantations can influence the balance of regional ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Many countries report national statistics on the area of oil palm, but few document the extent and locations of oil palm plantations. In this study, we produce and make available oil palm maps that include 15 countries with more than 10,000 ha of planted oil palms. Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture (PALSAR-2) images and high-resolution (<2.5 m) images in Google Earth were used to produce oil palm maps by supervised classification and visual interpretation. Two independent verification systems were used to evaluate map accuracy. The characteristics of oil palm plantations distribution and their environment suitability including terrain and climate conditions of the global oil palm planted regions are also discussed. The results indicate that the total area of oil palm in global in 2016 was estimated to be 29.49 million hectares (Mha) although the mapping result showed a good correlation with other records, but relatively large uncertainty in Africa. Most oil palm trees grow in warm (24–29.5°C), wet conditions (1000–4000 mm p.a. of precipitation), flat terrain (slope less than 8°), and low elevation (0–800 m); however, these growing conditions are slightly different in different continents.

Comparison of visual and automated oil palm mapping in Borneo

ABSTRACTAround 16 Mha of land is estimated to be under oil palm agriculture in insular Southeast Asia. There is a growing need to verify that palm oil is produced without causing negative environmental effects. Monitoring changes in the extent and condition of oil palm plantations by remote sensing is the first necessary step. The changing appearance of oil palm plantations as they age and the varying types (industrial and small-holder) of oil palm cultivation renders this monitoring task difficult. In this study we assess the potential of visual and automated mapping methods for regional-level oil palm monitoring by comparing the results of two recent large-scale mapping efforts in Borneo Island, shared by Indonesia and Malaysia. Large differences were found between visual and automated methods, mainly related to the concept of land use versus land cover. Automated oil palm mapping produced 35% smaller oil palm extent than visual mapping for plantation areas established before 2005 and was not able to detect young or newly established plantations. In total, the visual method detected 8.0 Mha of industrial oil palm plantation area, within which the automated method detected merely 3.8 Mha of closed canopy oil palm, highlighting the crucial importance of visual mapping approaches for outlining boundaries of industrial oil palm plantations. However, the automated approach enabled estimation of the extent of (1) productive closed canopy oil palm area and other land-cover types within known industrial plantations and (2) closed canopy oil palm stands outside of known industrial plantations (0.6 Mha). These results advocate the combined use of visual and optical oil palm mapping approaches for comprehensive regional-level monitoring of oil palm plantations in insular Southeast Asia.

The impacts of oil palm plantation establishment on the habitat type, species diversity, and feeding guild of mammals and herpetofauna

Kwatrina RT, Santosa Y, Bismark M, Santoso N. 2018. The impacts of oil palm plantation establishment on the habitat type, species diversity, and feeding guild of mammals and herpetofauna. Biodiversitas 19: 1213-1219. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil. Contributing 2.14% to the country’s gross domestic product, palm oil plays an important role in the national economy from plantation sector. However, the expansion of oil palm plantations has brought negative impacts to forests and wildlife. Little is known to what extent these negative impacts on mammals and reptiles can be reduced through better management. To address this knowledge gap, the current study assessed species diversity as affected by the establishment of the oil palm plantation in Central Kalimantan, a tropical biodiversity hotspot in Asia. We conducted 25 line transect surveys and visual encounter surveys in oil palm areas, shrubs and secondary forests in these landscapes. The results indicated that the establishment of oil palm plantation negatively impacted species abundance and diversity, and changed the mammal and reptile species composition, by favoring ecologically generalist species. For forest specialist species, forested areas like HCV and HCS, play an important role in maintaining habitat heterogeneity in oil palm landscapes. Mammal species found in habitat conditions following oil palm plantations belong to some feeding groups, whereas all species of herpetofauna have terrestrial habitat types. These mammal and herpetofauna species can live and function in the food chain in the oil palm plantation ecosystem.

Las políticas públicas para el cultivo de palma de aceite. El caso de la región Soconusco, Chiapas, México

Las políticas gubernamentales orientadas al fomento de la siembra de palma de aceite y la reconversión de superficies ocupadas por otros cultivos, son analizadas en el presente texto. Chiapas es la principal entidad por superficie plantada y valor de la producción generada por la oleaginosa; el mayor porcentaje de municipios y unidades de producción se ubican en la región del Soconusco. Se plantea que el diseño de las políticas públicas obedece más a las necesidades de las empresas que usan la materia prima que, a los beneficios sociales y económicos de los productores, sin tomar en cuenta los probables efectos ambientales de la expansión de la palma. Se concluye que las políticas gubernamentales adolecen de continuidad, son improvisadas y responden a objetivos coyunturales y no de largo plazo

Rainwater Interception Pattern of a Regenerated Secondary Tropical Forest and Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Canopies in Bintulu, Sarawak

Regenerated secondary tropical forest that resulted from logging activity and transforming of forest into oil palm (Elaeis guineesis Jacq.) estate are expected to influence the magnitude of rainfall water fraction under these plant canopies. In depth information and knowledge regarding interception pattern of rainwater are still very much lacking, especially under these canopies in tropical region. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the amount of rainwater passing the regenerated secondary tropical forest and oil palm canopies, which currently cover 14.7% of the total land area in Malaysia. Three sampling sites were established, which consisted of a regenerated secondary tropical forest (RSTF), productive oil palm plantation (POP) and non-productive oil palm area (NPOP). The computed throughfall (Tfd) for RSTF, POP and NPOP were 77.2%, 91.1% and 87.4%, respectively. The stemflow (Sfd) was worked out as 0.5% (RSTF), 0.7% (POP) and 0.4% (NPOP) of gross rainfall during the study period. The findings revealed that 22.3%, 8.2% and 12.2% were intercepted by RSTF, POP and NPOP canopies, respectively and evaporated back to the atmosphere. The measured Tfd, Sfd and evaporation (Ei) were different among the three study sites even within the local environment and thus, suggesting the findings to be influenced by 1) canopy structures and trunk morphology; 2) installation of sampling material; 3) species and age of tree or trunk; and 4) local meteorological condition. The study recommends extra caution should be considered during the installation of sampling material, especially for Sfd measurement to avoid leakage and improve the accuracy of Ei values. This is important because the portion of rainwater intercepted by these canopies is a significant component, which is vital for managing forest resources, oil palm estate, as well as catchment area for sustainable clean water resources.Keywords: Interception loss, oil palm, rainfall, regenerated secondary tropical forest, Sarawak