Page 42 - sr_2013.PDF

ORGANIC FERTILISERS AND LEGUME COVER CROPS
Before the planting or during the immature phase of oil palms, our
estates are planted with Legume Cover Crops (LCC) as a standard
practice to conserve and improve soil fertility and fix atmospheric
nitrogen for the trees. This allows us to reduce the use of fertilisers
and subsequently, our chemical footprint. As LCC may also suppress
the breeding of Rhinoceros beetles, we are able to reduce the use
of pesticides.
The LCC species planted on our estates are Calopogonium caeruleum,
Calopogoniummucunoides, Centrosema pubescens, Pueraria javanica,
and e.Mucuna bracteata. The coverage of LCC on our estates varies.
Some plantations are fully covered with LCC while newer estates in
South Sumatra are still cultivating LCC.
In Riau, we have been using Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) as soil
mulch since the mid 90’s, and together with the use of POME in
land application, we have been able to reduce the need for inorganic
fertilisers by 14%. We are now moving towards co-composting the
EFB and POME, which can potentially replace up to 30% of inorganic
fertilisers used.
The graph on the right shows our inorganic and organic fertiliser usage
between 2011 and 2013. Through LCC and recycling palm oil mill
by-products as organic fertilisers, we have been able to reduce the
use of inorganic fertilisers in our plantations. An annual fertilisation
scheme is developed for each plantation to create a balanced nutrition
for our crops based on yield target, field inspection, leaf analysis, soil
data, terrain study and climatic characteristics of each site.
CHEMICAL FERTILISERS AND PESTICIDES
Agricultural companies typically use agrochemicals as fertilisers and
pesticides. In the past, IndoAgri was using among others some paraquat
to control weed growth. Paraquat is listed as a Class 1 pesticide by the
World Health Organisation (WHO), and as such we are committed to
phasing out paraquat. Currently our R&D department is doing a study
and developing a timeline on how to phase out paraquat.
We use only registered pesticides approved by the Indonesian
Department of Agriculture. All our mandors and sprayers, including our
paraquat distributors, are trained by Komisi Pestisida, the Indonesian
government agency overseeing the use of fertilisers and pesticides,
on the safe handling, administration and storage of chemicals, the
correct spraying techniques and the proper use of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE).
PESTICIDES AND BIO-PEST CONTROLS
The monitoring of pest population is a critical process in preventing
pest infestations. We constantly assess the degree of pest damage and
estimate the pest populations on the plantations through observation and
census. Biological and integrated controls are applied when necessary.
Biological control is always preferred to chemical treatments as the
remedy for pests. Chemical pesticides are used only as a last resort.
We also cultivated the natural enemies of pests as an integrated
approach to minimise the use of pesticides and our chemical footprint.
CHEMICAL FOOTPRINT
*/%0'00% "(3* 3&4063$&4 -5% t 4645"*/"#*-*5: 3&1035