Analysis of a pineapple-oil palm intercropping system in Malaysia MSc Thesis Plant Production Systems Sanne van Leeuwen August, 2019 ii Analysis of a pineapple-oil palm intercropping system in Malaysia MSc Thesis Plant Production Systems Name Student: Sanne van Leeuwen Registration Number: 941119509070 Study: MSc Organic Agriculture – Specialization Agroecology Chair group: Plant Production Systems (PPS) Code Number: PPS-80436 Date August, 2019 Supervisors: dr. ir. Maja Slingerland dr. Lotte Woittiez Examiner: dr.ir.ing. Tom Schut Disclaimer: This thesis report is part of an education program and hence might still contain (minor) inaccuracies and errors. Correct citation: van Leeuwen, S.K., 2019, Analysis of a pineapple-oil palm intercropping system in Malaysia, MSc Thesis Wageningen University, 93 p. Contact [email protected] for access to data, models and scripts used for the analysis iii iv Acknowledgements This thesis would not have existed without the help of many people. First of all, special thanks goes to the field officers of MISI and the staff of KANZU Research UTHM who welcomed me and supported me in Parit Raja, Malaysia. Their dedication, perseverance, assistance and friendship have made an impact that goes beyond this thesis and will never be forgotten. I would like to thank the members of MISI and P&G situated in Kuala Lumpur for enabling this valuable collaboration. Second, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors dr. ir. Maja Slingerland and dr. Lotte Woittiez for their continuous support, expert advice and availability throughout this thesis process. Furthermore, the help, collaboration and reviews from other staff and students at PPS are gratefully acknowledged. Last, I would like to thank my family, friends and especially my partner who were always there for me with patience, support and extraordinary encouragement. This research is a joint research activity between the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR). The research is part of the knowledge to knowledge component of the Malaysia-The Netherlands Sub-Committee on Oil Palm (SCOP) under the Malaysia- The Netherlands Joint Working Group (JWG) on timber and commodities. For questions or contact, I can be reached through [email protected]. Sanne van Leeuwen v Acronyms & definitions Johor Department of Agriculture: Jabatan Pertanian Negeri Johor MARDI : Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute MISI: Malaysia Institute for Supply chain Innovations MPIB: Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board MPOB: Malaysian Palm Oil Board P&G: Procter & Gamble UTHM: Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia BCR: Benefit-cost ratio CT: (a pineapple plant) directly next to an oil palm, Close-to-Tree FFB: Fresh Fruit Bunch FT: (a pineapple plant) exactly in the middle of three neighbouring palms, Far-from-Tree MAP: Months After Planting Pcs: Petiole cross-section area P-density: Pineapple planting density YAP: Years After Planting Contractor: A person who manages oil palm fields of clients, in return for a reward per ton FFB production. Most contractors hire workers to carry out the maintenance. Dealer/oil palm dealer: The middleman who manages collection and transport of FFB from farmers’ fields, to his collection centre, to a nearby palm oil mill in return for a reward per ton FFB. Establishment intercropping: The practice to intercrop immature oil palms with (food) crops. Farmer: The person deciding on the oil palm and/or pineapple management of a field. The farmer is not necessarily the field owner or the person carrying out the management. Farming system: A distinctive set of agricultural, economic and social structures and functions at field level, including for example the cropping system, input and output costs and land ownership. Pineapple dealer: The middleman who buys pineapples from farmers and sells pineapples to the next parties in the supply chain. vi Abstract In Malaysia, the second largest producer of palm oil globally, about a third of all oil palm planted area is managed by smallholder farmers. An increase of the average yields of these smallholders is needed to meet the rising demand for vegetable oil and prevent further loss of tropical rainforest. One strategy to increase yields is to enable timely replanting of aged oil palm fields. A method to enable replanting as practised by smallholder farmers on peat soil on Johor is pineapple-oil palm establishment intercropping. To assess the potential of this farming system to sustainably increase smallholder yields, this study aimed to understand the environmental, economic and social effects of pineapple-oil palm intercropping and to formulate recommendations for improvement of the sustainability of pineapple-oil palm intercropping on peat soil. Data on oil palm and pineapple growth and productivity and on agronomic, economic and social aspects of this farming system have been gathered in Johor through field measurements, key informant interviews and farmer interviews. Statistical analysis of crop data and descriptive analysis of farming system information provided an overview of the most important sustainability issues. These issues were used for a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. The results showed that pineapple-oil palm intercropping has large positive economic effects, providing farmers an average income of US$21 000 ha-1 over the four-year intercropping period. No significant negative effects of intercropping on oil palm and pineapple growth and productivity could be found. On the other hand, smallholders used practices which increased negative environmental effects of cultivation on peat soil, such as burning of crop residues and suboptimal fertilisation. It is concluded that pineapple-oil palm establishment intercropping can increase smallholder yields. However, to do so sustainably it is needed to find alternative pineapple removal methods, formulate good agricultural practices and confirm that this intercropping system has no negative effects on palm oil yields throughout the whole palm life cycle. vii viii Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. v Acronyms & definitions ........................................................................................................................... vi Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. vii Contents .................................................................................................................................................. ix 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Malaysia and the importance of smallholders ........................................................................ 1 1.2 The potential of intercropping ................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Oil palm and pineapple cultivation on peat ............................................................................ 3 1.4 Sustainability definition and assessment frameworks ............................................................ 4 2. Research objective & relevance ...................................................................................................... 7 3. Materials & methods ....................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Partners & study area .............................................................................................................. 9 3.2 Farming systems ...................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Information triangulation ...................................................................................................... 10 3.4 Field & interview selection .................................................................................................... 10 3.5 Data collection: field measurements .................................................................................... 11 3.6 Data collection: interviews .................................................................................................... 15 3.7 Data analysis: field measurements........................................................................................ 16 3.8 Data analysis: interviews ....................................................................................................... 16 3.9 Sustainability assessment ...................................................................................................... 17 4. Results ........................................................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Oil palm growth and productivity ......................................................................................... 19 4.2 Pineapple growth and productivity ....................................................................................... 22 4.3 Root interaction ..................................................................................................................... 25 4.4 Agronomic aspects ...............................................................................................................