The palm fresh fruit bunch consists of fruit embedded in spikelets growing on a main stem. Manual threshing is achieved by cutting the fruit-laden spikelets from the bunch stem with an axe or machete and then separating the fruit from the spikelets by hand. Children and the elderly in the village earn income as casual
Palm fresh fruit arrives from the field as bunches or loose fruit. The fresh fruit is normally emptied into wooden boxes suitable for weighing on a scale so that quantities of fruit arriving at the processing site may be checked. Large installations use weighbridges to weigh materials in trucks. The quality standard achieved is initially
In the early stages of fruit formation, the oil content of the fruit is very low. As the fruit approaches maturity the formation of oil increases rapidly to about 50 percent of mesocarp weigh. In a fresh ripe, un-bruised fruit the free fatty acid (FFA) content of the oil is below 0.3 percent. However, in
Research and development work in many disciplines – biochemistry, chemical and mechanical engineering – and the establishment of plantations, which provided the opportunity for large scale fully mechanised processing for palm oil, resulted in the evolution of a sequence of processing steps designed to extract, from a harvested oil palm bunch, a high yield of
Large-scale Oil Palm farms cover an area in excess of 500 hectares. These are state owned enterprises which were established to meet the internal consumption needs of the country and provide a surplus for export. The estates are well run and maintained. They employ the best farming techniques and employ highly skilled professionals to work
The medium-scale oil palm farm ranges from 10 to 500 hectares. This type of farm normally uses modern agronomic practices such as plant spacing, cover cropping, fertilization, ring weeding, pruning, etc. Some farmers in this category own processing facilities and therefore use their own output as well as buying from neighbours. Those who do not
Plantation farming is a new phenomenon to West African culture. In most parts of Africa the farm culture is basically subsistence. The family cultivates a small plot for their food needs and interplant tree crops. After three years or more the tree crop takes over the plot and the farmer moves to another. The new
The primary unit of production of the palm oil industry is the farm where the oil palm tree is cultivated to produce palm fruits. There are also wild groves of oil palm. The farm units are of different sizes and may be classified as small, medium, and large-scale estates. The wild groves, as the name
International trade in palm oil began at the turn of the nineteenth century, while that of palm kernels developed only after 1832. Palm oil became the principal cargo for slave ships after abolition of the slave trade. The establishment of trade in palm oil from West Africa was mainly the result of the Industrial Revolution
Principles Of Preservation And Processing Methods For Oil Palm
The general principles of preservation include: destruction of enzymes (a complex organic substance which in solution producesfermentation and chemical changes in other substances apparently without undergoingany change itself) in the raw material and contaminating micro-organisms by heat (sterilization) during processing; elimination of as much water as possible from the oil to prevent microbial growth (bacterial activity,
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