The crop production pattern started
to trend lower from September
onwards. This was attributed
partially to the scarceness of skilled
harvesters.
Our Peninsular Malaysia mills
recorded an OER of 22.1%, an
improvement from last year’s
average of 21.9% as well as the
Peninsular MPOB average of 20%.
Our Sungai Jernih mill achieved the
Group’s highest OER for the year of
25.1%.
Sabah
Our 12 estates in Sabah cover an
area of 29,000 ha with 26,500 ha
planted with oil palms producing
412,000 MT FFB, 6% lower than last
year’s production of 438,000 MT.
The average age profile of our oil
palm trees in Sabah is 14 years. FFB
yield for the region stood at 18 MT
per ha, a reduction from last year’s
yield of 18.7 MT.
This reduction was due to the El
Nino phenomenon, which triggered
dry weather as we experienced a
lower average rainfall level for the
most part of the year.
Lack of skilled harvesters especially
for our tall palm areas also curtailed
production.
As for young mature palms, we
achieved a minimum of three
harvesting rounds with harvested
crop sent to our mills within a
24-hour period.
Our Sabahmills recorded an average
OER of 22.5%, an improvement over
last year’s 22.2% with our Segaria
mill recording the highest OER of
24.8% for the region’s mills.
Sarawak
Our total land bank in Sarawak
stood at 26,500 ha over the span of
nine estates. Of this, only 13,300 ha
is planted with oil palms which have
an average age profile of 18 years.
Our Sarawak operations produced
167,600 MT FFB, 2% lower than
the last year’s 171,000 MT FFB.
Average FFB yield per ha was 12.8
MT compared with 9.6 MT achieved
last year.
Prolonged field blockades have
affected our operations in Sarawak
especially at our Bukit Limau, Sungai
Lelak, Kelimut and Maong estates.
This is in spite of the fact that the
Courts have ruled in favour of the
Group that the claimants are not
entitled to occupy our land.
In addition, we faced a high turnover
of harvesters, extreme rainfall during
the extended monsoon season
in the fourth quarter, reduced
field accessibility in some areas in
addition to the acute shortage of tall
palm harvesters.
Our mills in the region achieved an
OER of 20.0%, which was marginally
below last year’s rate of 20.5% and
the Sarawak MPOB average OER of
20.2%.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Research and development (R&D)
efforts ledbyour associate company,
Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn
Bhd (AAR) play an important role in
the Group’s sustainable growth.
AAR’s work allows us to look into
new ways to increase our efficiency
and yields while ensuring our
business model remains viable in
the long run.
R&D on oil palm breeding remains a
key focus as we explore novel ways
to develop high yielding planting
materials. This area of research has
been highly successful for the Group
as demonstrated by the results
produced by our various planting
materials.
Design of
site-specific
drainage
system for
oil palms
and flood
control using
the latest
geospatial
technology
an n ual repo rt 2015
15
