Assessing labor productivity in the harvest of crops planted with Elaeis oleifera x Elaeis guineensis crossings in an oil palm plantation from Colombia

Abstract

In Colombia, crossings of Elaeis oleifera by Elaeis guineensis (OxG hybrids) were planted after Bud Rot outbreaks. These OxG hybrids had not been planted before, so management practices were adapted from those developed for Elaeis guineensis crops. The harvest of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is one of the tasks with the greatest share on production costs and the most labor demanding in an oil palm plantation. The objective of this study was to bridge the knowledge gap on the measurement of harvest performance for OxG hybrid to ensure crop sustainability. Therefore, a time and motion study, and its corresponding costs analysis were developed for an OxG cultivar in a plantation in the Colombian oil palm growing Central Zone. We found out that on average, cutters spend 40.4% of their effective working time inspecting oil palm bunches to assess if they are at optimal harvest time (OHT), compared to 15.9% taken for E. guineensis, likely because OxG hybrid harvest requires the consideration of three harvest criteria. Labor productivity in terms of the tons of FFB harvested, increased by 55% from low to high productivity lots, but the area covered by workers decreased by 51.7%. The latter suggests that the number of harvest operators should be assigned according to crop yield. Furthermore, it was observed that labor productivity for harvesting OxG crops in this study fell within the range of values reported for E. guineensis harvest in Colombia. Notwithstanding, the harvest criteria for OxG hybrid of more than 3 meters high need improvement to overcome the difficulty of inspecting bunches.