Amirshah T iksun* and Hoong Hak Wan*

ABSTRACT

Sawit Cable System was introduced to Sawit Kinabalu Berhad  in the late 1998.  The objective to develop this system is to overcome some difficulties that exit in evacuating FFB from hilly areas. Before the introduction of  Sawit Cable System, both the quantity and quality of crop from the hilly areas were affected as it was quite impossible to fully recover all FFB and loose fruits from the steepareas.  Also, high incidence of bruised bunches was unavoidable due to  rolling of the harvested bunches down the hill.

The cost of installation of  Sawit Cable System, inclusive of labour and material costs is around RM15.53 per meter run and around 76 meters per ha will suffice in most situations.  Besides the tremendous saving in infrastructure cost  compared to the conventional road system, Sawit Cable System allows oil palm planting  in hilly areas with minimum disturbances to the environment.  This is important in the long term sustainability of the cropping system.  In addition, more palms can now be planted in an area as less land will be required for road.

Cost comparisons between Sawit Cable System and other methods of FFB evacuation in the hilly areas are briefly discussed.

* Sawit Kinabalu Bhd.,Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Proceedings of the 2001 PIPOC International Palm Oil Congress (Agriculture). source