Agriculture and Environment: Palm Oil

Better Management Practices: Eliminate Burning

Better clearing practices do not involve burning. One way to insure this is to enforce burning regulations.

It is equally important, however, to identify and disseminate information about the best ways to clear without burning. The goal should be to help identify what companies should do, not just what they should not do.

Since 1989 Good Hope Plantations (1997a) has found that eliminating burning is practical for replanting or new plantings. With this method, useful parts of trees are harvested and the remainder are left on the ground where they can be spread out to provide protective ground cover, or piled into rows to prevent runoff and erosion.

More than 30,000 hectares have been planted with this technique. The main issue of concern with zero burning is that it might lead to the infestation of beetle pests and stem rot disease. Ploughing, pulverising debris, or planting legumes minimises this risk.

Benefits from zero burning
The main benefit derived from zero burning in Malaysia is that nutrients tend to be released more slowly during decomposition so that they can be utilised by the new trees. This reduces per-hectare inorganic fertilisers needed at the time of planting (e.g., nitrogen by 738 kilograms, phosphorus by 205 kilograms, potassium by 848 kilograms, and magnesium by 487 kilograms).

Good for soil health
The organic matter also improves the soil. When organic matter is used properly it helps with terracing and the reduction of runoff. One study found that in 1993 the zero burning technique reduced costs for establishing plantations from 1,070 to 1,415 ringgits (the Malaysian unit of currency) when compared with plantations where burning was used.

This is primarily because zero burning reduces the fallow time needed by eliminating the need to dry the cleared forest material for burning. Thus, producers get a portion of a crop that much faster. This method also exposes soil far less than other methods, and it lets replanting occur gradually throughout the year whenever there is sufficient rainfall for the seedlings (Golden Hope Plantations Berhad 1997a).