1 Oil Palm Land Suitability Zoning

by

Wahid B. Omar

Introduction

Zoning information on oil palm planted area is usef ul for estimating potential production and strategic planning for increased yield. Two types o f spatial data available in MPOB’s Oil Palm Resource Information System (OPRIS) i.e. reconnaiss ance soil survey and agro-climatic data were used to develop the Malaysian oil palm land su itability classes. This paper explained the procedures used to create the Malaysian oil palm la nd suitability classes zoning. The objectives of this project are to:

i. Create a spatial information of oil palm land suita bility classes using soil and agroclimatic data ii. Estimate area of different oil palm land suitabilit y classes

Oil Palm Soil Suitability Classes

Spatial reconnaissance soil survey information of P eninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak had been installed in the OPRIS geodatabase. The soil t ypes were differentiated into suitable, marginal and unsuitable for oil palm based on their characteristics and level of constraints to oil palm growths ( Table 1 ).2 Table 1: Soil suitability characteristics for oil p alm

Parameter Suitable Marginal Unsuitable

i. Slope 0 o – 12 o 12 o – 20 o > 20 o

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 o f 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 + so il moisture < pan evaporation) of each area based on annual rainfall and soil type (soil water holding capacity). Table 3shows the agroclimatic suitability classes for oil palm.

Table 2 : Temperature and rainfall suitability char acteristics for oil palm Climate factors Suitable Marginal Unsuitable

Temperature ( o C) 23 – 32 20 – 23 32 – 34 < 20

> 34

Rainfall (mm/yr) 1700 – 3000 1100 – 1700 3000 – 4000 < 1100

> 4000 Sources: K. J. Goh (2000)3 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 t o procedure land suitability zone map4Figure 2: Map of oil palm land suitability for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak in 2003. [Source: Wahid, (2003)].5

Table 4 : Area of different oil palm land suitabili ty 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 (>20 o ) 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 ind icated 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 classificat ion of Malaysia. Malaysian Meteorological Service. 129 pp.

ii. GOH, K.J. 2000. Agronomic requirements and manageme nt of oil palm for high yields in Malaysia. In Goh, K. J. (ed.) Proceedings of the Seminar on M anaging Oil Palm for High Yields: Agronomic Principles . Malaysia Society of Soil Science & Param Agricult ure 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 Pa lm for High Yields: Agronomic Principles . Malaysia Society of Soil Science & Param Agricult ure Soil Surveys. p.18-38.6 iv. WAHID, O.B. 2003. Oil palm site yield potential det ermination. 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 classificat ion for Peninsular Malaysia (Revised). Soils Management Services Branch, Department of Agr iculture. Ministry of Agriculture Malaysia. 70pp.