out of the box ideas for plantation management

IPNISoutheast Asia ProgramT. Oberthür & C.R. Donough, with contribution by M. Hoffmann

Out of the Box Ideas for Plantation Management

Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA) Raise Seminar

MPOB Bactrics Hall, Bangi11 August 2015

Malaysian Estate Owners Association “RAISE” Seminar

1. Co-authors2. Commercial data3. In house information4. Variable performance5. Solutions often simple, not

trivial6. Concepts transferable

Explanatory Footnotes

What is IPNI

Formed in 2007 from the Potash & Phosphate Institute, the International Plant Nutrition Institute is supported by leading fertilizer manufacturers.

Its mission is to promote scientific information on responsible management of plant nutrition.

International Plant Nutrition Institute

Engagement Pathway


Engagement Pathway


SustainableIntensification

Closing Yield Gaps

Producing More Food from the Same Area of Land while Reducing Impacts on the Environment.

The difference between Realized Productivity and Achievable Best,

with current genetic material, available technologies and management.

Garnett T. Science 341, 33 – 34 (2013)Godfray HCJ et al. Science 327, 812 – 818 (2010)

Engagement Pathway

44%

27%

14%

15%

Oil Palm Various Cocoa Cassava


Engagement Pathway

“Out of the Box” Thinking

“Out of the Box”

Adopted from the “Bandrowski-Strategic-Innovation-Process" by James F. Bandrowski

MPLITUDE is the maximum displacement of points on a wave: the degree or intensity of change, measured from the equilibrium position.A



The Plantation “Box”


Plan Execute




The Plantation “Box”

Plan Execute



ITHIN a Plantation Environment, the Amplitude Represents the Day to Day Responses to Tactical Management DemandsW

“Within” the Box Thinking is Critical


PositiveAmplitude

Plan Execute

NegativeAmplitude


UT OF THE BOX ideas for plantation management are those that lead to larger than incremental performance changes O


PositiveAmplitude

Plan Execute

NegativeAmplitude

SelectStrategies

BuildBreakthroughConcepts

ApplyBestPractices

IdentifyPains &Causes

CrystallizeBreakthroughOpportunityAreas (BOAs)

IdentifyRisks

IdentifyCoreCompetency

TakeCreative

Leaps




PositiveAmplitude

Plan

NegativeAmplitude

SelectStrategies


ApplyBestPractices



IdentifyRisks


TakeCreative

Leaps

Breakdown




PositiveAmplitude

Plan

NegativeAmplitude

SelectStrategies


ApplyBestPractices



IdentifyRisks


TakeCreative

Leaps

Breakthrough



Amabile, 1999. How to Kill Creativity. In “Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Thinking”

Experts: technical, procedural, and intellectual knowledge.

Innovators: imaginatively

approach problems.

Work Environment:Intrinsic & extrinsic

motivation to solve problems at hand.


Actionable Solutions

Framing the Challenge

IPNI SEAPs Vision for the Industry

ISSUEBreeders raise yield ceiling while

managers keep it at the floor

So I have been told by a breeder …


EXPLANATION

R&D Breeder R&D


HYPOTHESISMore potential can be realized by adopting innovative management

Both authors agree …


VISIONREDUCING

UNREALIZEDPOTENTIAL


REDUCINGUNREALIZEDPOTENTIAL

VISION

Business Opportunity: Yield Gap

PALMSIM Model: Hoffmann et al., 2014

Fertilizer plots > 80% of average simulated potential yield;

unfertilized control plots 47.5%

Potential YieldFFB (Mg ha-1 year-1)

<10<20<30<40<48

Business Opportunity

The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 91 (1067): 81-96 (2015)


0

40

30

20

50

60

3 4 11975 13 14 15

10

6 8 10 12 TREEAGE

FFB

(t/h

a)

Yield Age Profile Map Chart

0

40

30

20

50

60

3 4 11975 13 14 15

10

6 8 10 12 TREEAGE

FFB

(t/h

a)



0

40

30

20

50

60

3 4 11975 13 14 15

10

6 8 10 12 TREEAGE

FFB

(t/h

a)

Map ChartYield Age Profile


0

40

30

20

50

60

3 4 11975 13 14 15

10

6 8 10 12

FFB

(t/h

a)

TREEAGE

Map ChartYield Age Profile


Organizeexisting

performance data for

VISUALIZATION

Generate performance

indicators and metrics for

ANALYSES

Devisespecific

performance intervention options for

EVALUATION

Quantify performance change for

management DECISIONS


Engage senior management Engaging senior management is essential to ensure commitment throughout the organization. PI is a long-term exercise that requires on-going commitment.

Acquire data Plantation operators have internal accounting or control systems that capture this. Data include inputs and outputs for each block.

Clean and assemble data Use data that is routinely available, not “special” experiment data. Anticipate some effort for this step.

Organize data Set up a common database structure. This may require several cycles before a final structure is established.

First analysis Show management the results of first analysis to seek feedback on future analyses.

Follow-up analysis Expand data sets to include new partners and data from their new and old plantations. Anticipate large variations.

Discuss with field managers Review results and ideas with field managers with the goal to interpret data for actionable recommendations.

Review and repeat To keep the PI exercise relevant, an annual review is recommended. Ideally, it should become part of regular board meetings where management can be briefed on the insights gained and decide on the best activities to be introduced in the next production cycle.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


0

40

30

20

50

60

3 4 11975 13 14 15

10

6 8 10 12 TREEAGE

FFB

(t/h

a)



45

25

20

10

15

5

30

35

40

010 50403020 60 70 80

FFB

(t/ h

a)

Planted Area

y = 26.88 + (-0.07*x)


RESPONSE TO FERTILIZER

UNDERSTANDING


NPK

$ $ $

0100 200 800700600500400300

30

25

20

15

10

5

NPKMg added over this year and previous 2 yrs (kg/ha, weighted 25:50:25)

FFB

(t/h

a)

35


8~10BREAK–EVEN

kg kg

point

fresh fruitbunches per kg fertilizer


35

0100 200 800700600500400300

30

25

20

15

10

5

b=0.010

b=0.007

b=0.004

NPKMg added over this year and previous 2 yrs (kg/ha, weighted 25:50:25)

FFB

(t/h

a)

Soil Type Effects


A

B

C

D

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Max

Average

Min

YieldPerformance

Soil-Climate Interactions


10

15

5

30

25

20

40

35

15 4525 355 10 20 30 40

45

50

55

Harvest Man days

Fres

h Fr

uit B

unch

Yie

ld in

t pe

r ha

20032004200520062006200720082009201020112012

Labor YieldInteractions


10

15

5

30

25

20

40

35

15 4525 355 10 20 30 40

45

50

55

Expected yield level

Fres

h Fr

uit B

unch

Yie

ld in

t pe

r ha

20032004200520062006200720082009201020112012


Harvest Man days


10

15

5

30

25

20

40

35

15 4525 355 10 20 30 40

45

50

55

Fruit is grown but not harvested

Only with enough labor, all fruit is harvested

Expected yield level

Fres

h Fr

uit B

unch

Yie

ld in

t pe

r ha

20032004200520062006200720082009201020112012


Harvest Man days


Full Gross Marginal Return from Blocks

Net Present Value (NPV) for Investment Evaluation

12

Systematic Sourcing of Fertilizers3

Further ApplicationsActionable Solutions

No intervention forfurther action identified

Possible management interventions identified

12

Actionable InterventionsActionable Solutions

Implementing Solutions

INTERVENTION:

trial at estate scale


trial at block scale

1

2

3

4

5

6BMP

step-by-step

Conduct a preliminaryyield gap analysis

Assign BMP and REF blocks throughout estate

Implement BMPsand collect data

Study data together with plantationmanagers and conduct a follow-up

yield gap analysis

Determine whichBMPs are suitable for

implementationat the whole plantation,

if any

Adopt BMP asstandard practice.

Optional: launch as Estate-Scale

Experimentation if greater certainty is

needed


A sample estate with three soil types with one pair of BMP/REF blocks per 1,000 hectares.

Regular production block

BMP block

REF block

Soil A

Soil B

Soil c


Oberthür et al. International Oil Palm Conference 2012.

Yield at REF blocks (t/ha/month)

Yiel

d at

BM

P bl

ocks

(t/h

a/m

onth

)

2 – Prime-age palms


2 – Old palms


1 – Old palms

Pre-BMP – Old palms

Pre-BMP – Prime-age palms

3 – Old palms


4 – Old palms

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Fresh fruit bunch yields among prime-age and old palms


none012

Division 1Division 2Division 3

TREATMENT

DIVISION

Fertilizer treatment layout


Summary & Proposition

Plan ExecuteMonitor BMPs

BMP trials to test breakthrough concepts

Plantation Intellto identify causes

Plantation Intellto crystallizebreakthroughopportunities)

PalmSimSimulations

Breakthrough

Breakdown

Estate Scale Experiments to build breakthrough concepts


MeasurePerformance

PlantationIntelligence


PALMSIMModel

Continuous Improvement

Best Management Practices


THE MISSING LINKShare, Analyze, Learn, Change, Gainproduction ha by palm age, total monthly FFB & bunch number, monthly nutrient amounts, monthly rainfall & rain days …

EstateNetworking

TheBenchmark Club

Malaysian Estate Owners Association International Plant Nutrition Institute ???


MeasurePerformance

PlantationIntelligence


PALMSIMModel

Continuous Improvement

Best Management Practices

EstateNetworking

TheBenchmark Club


IPNI Southeast Asia Program

Malaysian Estate Owners AssociationRaise Seminar

August 11, 2015

out of the box ideas for plantation management

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