New Breed of Oil Palm Could Double Yields
A new type of oil palm that was developed using traditional breeding methods by SMART Tbk, a subsidiary of Golden-Agri Resources may double crude palm oil yields while also having a quicker time to harvest of 24 months.
Two clones of palm planting material called Eka 1 and Eka 2 were granted approval for use in April by Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture and have been registered in Indonesia’s Catalogue of Seeds.
While Indonesia’s current average yield stands at 4 tons per hectare, expectations are that Eka 1 seedings will produce yields of 10.8 tons of crude palm oil per hectare once prime age of 10 - 18 years is achieved, while Eka 2 seedings are expected to see yields of 13 tons per hectare, raising oil extraction levels by 32 percent and 36 percent respectively.
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