A study on the crop evacuation process of oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB)

Abstract

Palm oil industry remains as one of the major contributors to the Malaysia GDP. This industry supplies more than 17 million tons of worldwide requirement. The increasing demand of palm oil every year has created tremendous pressure for the palm oil supplier to ensure a sustainable supply of this commodity for market consumption. One of the critical areas for sustainable operation in this industry is to ensure no interruption at the upstream process of evacuation of the oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB). The efficiency in the FFB evacuation process will ensure continuous and sustainable operation at the processing center. The study has adopted a quantitative research method using a mass survey to extract the information. Seventy-four (74) respondent which is a manager from thirteen (13) plantation estate has contributed to the survey. The result suggests six (6) values that critically influence the efficiency of FFB evacuation process identified based on priority as driver skills, terrain, insufficient labor, wheelbarrow, not regular maintenance the road, and harvest technique. The findings in this study serves as a reference for future research in order to improve and enhanced the efficiency of evacuation process of FFB. It helps to provide a knowledge to the palm oil producer to tackle the main issue related to the efficiency of FFB evacuation process in Malaysia. © 2020, World Academy of Research in Science and Engineering. All rights reserved.