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Oil Palm Land Suitability Zoning 

by 

Wahid B. Omar 

Introduction 

Zoning information on oil palm planted area is useful for estimating potential production and 

strategic planning for increased yield. Two types of spatial data available in MPOB’s Oil Palm 

Resource Information System (OPRIS) i.e. reconnaissance soil survey and agro-climatic data 

were used to develop the Malaysian oil palm land suitability classes. This paper explained the 

procedures used to create the Malaysian oil palm land suitability classes zoning. The objectives 

of this project are to: 

i. Create a spatial information of oil palm land suitability classes using soil and agroclimatic data 

ii. Estimate area of different oil palm land suitability classes 

Oil Palm Soil Suitability Classes 

Spatial reconnaissance soil survey information of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak had 

been installed in the OPRIS geodatabase. The soil types were differentiated into suitable, 

marginal and unsuitable for oil palm based on their characteristics and level of constraints to oil 

palm growths (Table 1). 
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Table 1: Soil suitability characteristics for oil palm 

Parameter Suitable Marginal Unsuitable 

i. Slope 0o – 12o 12o – 20o > 20o

ii. Drainage Imperfect to well 

Somewhat 

excessive and 

poorly drained 

Very excessive and 

poorly drained 

iii. Effective depth > 100 cm 50 – 100 cm < 50 cm 

iv. Texture and 

structure 

Exclude structure less 

sands and massive 

clays 

Massive clay Structure less 

sands 

v. Salinity < 2 mmhos 2 – 4 mmhos > 4 mmhos 

vi. Depth to acid 

sulphate layer > 50 cm 25 – 50 cm < 25 cm 

vii. Organic 

horizon 

thickness 

< 75 cm 75 – 300 cm > 300 cm 

viii. Stoniness 

< 25% and uniformly 

distributed or present 

below 75 cm depth 

25 – 75% and 

uniformly distributed 

or present below 75 

cm depth 

> 75% between 

100 cm depth 

ix. Nutrient 

Imbalance 

(CEC) 

> 24 cmol and without 

excessive micro 

nutrients 

16 – 24 cmol and 

without excessive 

micro nutrients 

< 16 cmol or with 

excessive micro 

nutrients 

Sources: Wong (1986) and Paramananthan (2000) 

Oil Palm Climatic Suitability Classes 

Besides soil, climatic factors also influenced oil palm growths and production. Two important 

climatic parameters related to oil palm growth and production are temperature and rainfall (Table 

2). “Agro-climatic information’ is the combination of rainfall and soil water content data. It 

determines the number of months with moist (rain + soil moisture = pan evaporation), wet (rain + 

soil moisture > pan evaporation) and dry (rain + soil moisture < pan evaporation) of each area 

based on annual rainfall and soil type (soil water holding capacity). Table 3 shows the agroclimatic suitability classes for oil palm. 

Table 2 : Temperature and rainfall suitability characteristics for oil palm 

Climate factors Suitable Marginal Unsuitable 

Temperature (oC) 23 – 32 20 – 23 

32 – 34 

< 20 

> 34 

Rainfall (mm/yr) 1700 – 3000 1100 – 1700

3000 – 4000 

< 1100 

> 4000 

Sources: K. J. Goh (2000) 
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Table 3 : Agro-climatic suitability classes for oil palm 

Suitability Classes 

Highly suitable Suitable Marginal Unsuitable 

10–12 total 

wet/moist 

months/year 

7–9 total 

wet/moist 

months/year 

5–6 total 

wet/moist 

months/year 

< 4 total 

wet/moist 

months/year 

Source: Anon. (1993) 

Oil Palm land Suitability Classes 

The oil palm land suitability classes were created by overlaying the soil and agro-climatic spatial 

data using ESRI’s ArcGIS software (Figure 1). Figure 2 shows the oil palm land suitability maps 

for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Area of land suitability classes i.e. the combination 

of soil and agro-climatic suitability is shown in Table 4. 

Soil Map

Agro-climatic Map

Base Map

Suitability Zone Map

Figure 1: Overlying of soil and agro-climatic map to procedure land suitability zone map 
Figure 2: Map of oil palm land suitability for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in 2003. [Source: Wahid, (2003)]. 
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Table 4 : Area of different oil palm land suitability classes 

Land Classes Area (hectare) 

Suitability 

classes Soil and agro-climate category Pen. Malaysia Sabah Sarawak Total 

Suitable Soil suitable + Agro-climate 

very suitable 6,890 599,407 440,846 1,047,143 

Suitable Soil suitable + Agro-climate 

suitable 525,859 979,145 81,098 1,586,102 

Suitable Soil suitable + Agro-climate 

marginal 220,284 172,955 36,632 429,871 

Suitable Soil marginal + Agro-climate 

very suitable 180,050 400,616 1,699,595 2,280,261 

Marginal Soil marginal + Agro-climate 

suitable 1,146,768 308,415 93,094 1,548,277 

Marginal Soil marginal + Agro-climate 

marginal 1,984,768 40,383 46,959 2,072,110 

Unsuitable Unclassified* 9,113,587 4,845,350 10,020,018 23,978,955 

Total 13,178,206 7,346,271 12,418,242 32,942,719 

* Unclassified = Problematic soils, steep land (>20o) dry area (< 4 total wet/moist months/year) and 

Forest area [Source: Wahid, (2003)] 

6. Conclusion 

Soil type and rainfall influenced oil palm growths and production. The reconnaissance soil survey 

together with the agro-climatic data had been used to create the oil palm suitability classes using 

geographic information system. The maps created indicated that overall about 16 %, 11 % and 

73 % of the land in Malaysia are suitable, marginal and unsuitable for oil palm respectively. Most 

the areas that are unsuitable for oil palm are due to problematic soils, steep and/or dry. 

7. References 

i. ANON. 1993. Agro-climatic and crop zone classification of Malaysia. Malaysian 

Meteorological Service. 129 pp. 

ii. GOH, K.J. 2000. Agronomic requirements and management of oil palm for high yields in 

Malaysia. In Goh, K. J. (ed.) Proceedings of the Seminar on Managing Oil Palm for High 

Yields: Agronomic Principles. Malaysia Society of Soil Science & Param Agriculture Soil 

Surveys. p.39-73. 

iii. PARAMANTHAN, S. 2000. Soil requirements of oil palm for high yields. In Goh, K. J. 

(ed.) Proceedings of the Seminar on Managing Oil Palm for High Yields: Agronomic 

Principles. Malaysia Society of Soil Science & Param Agriculture Soil Surveys. p.18-38. 
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iv. WAHID, O.B. 2003. Oil palm site yield potential determination. Report prepared for 

Enhancing National Productivity and Competitiveness of the Malaysian Oil Palm Industry 

Committee. Malaysian Palm Oil Board. 6 pp. 

v. WONG, F. T. 1986. Soil-crop suitability classification for Peninsular Malaysia (Revised). 

Soils Management Services Branch, Department of Agriculture. Ministry of Agriculture 

Malaysia. 70pp.