They purchase Micron s atomiser heads around which they construct their own applicators to overcome particular problems they face and to trim capital costs. Local aluminium tubing is used to build lances, handles and frames. Other estates such as Sinar Mas are using the Herbi-4 off the shelf . Micron s distributor in Malaysia have also moulded their own 10 litre tank to save on freight costs which also holds a 6 volt motorcycle battery. Efficiency gains are considerable when spraying in mature oil palm to create clean circles around the trees to reduce weed competition and maximise the benefits of the fertilisation programme.
Circle weeding together with pathway clearing makes for easy and efficient harvesting.
Workers can spray in teams of about 20 members with each operator completing 500 oil palm circles every day. In addition to these efficiencies there are potential improvements in operator safety. Crucial to these safety improvements with CDA sprayers is the production of large, uniform-size droplets to minimise spray drift and that with CDA machines the operator is able to spray to the side and therefore does not have to walk through the area he has just sprayed.