Production is set for five-year lows in second-largest grower after freeze on hiring of foreigners due to the pandemic
A Malaysian firm is developing a harvesting tool for palm oil that could accelerate automation in an industry that is known not only for its gruelling conditions, but is also suffering from a chronic labour shortage.
The machine, dubbed HARVi, is the first palm tree cutter with digital intelligence and precision harvesting software. Digital sensors can detect the location of the worker and the tree, as well as whether the worker is cutting fruit or pruning fronds, Girish said. The data can be accessed through a mobile app, eliminating time-consuming manual tasks such as counting of fruit bunches.
Oil palm fruit grows in dense bunches wedged between thorny fronds as much as 12m off the ground, each bunch with about 1,000 to 3,000 fruitlets that together weigh around 15kg-25kg. Skilled workers typically use sharp sickles attached on poles to slice fruit bunches by hand and transport them by wheelbarrow. Mechanised cutters are often too expensive for smallholders.
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