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INDOFOOD AGRI RESOURCES LTD
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2014
FERTILISERS AND LEGUMINOUS COVER CROPS
Prior to planting new oil palms on our estates, the land is
planted with Leguminous Cover Crops (LCC), which work
symbiotically with Rhizobium to fix atmospheric nitrogen
to improve soil fertility. Some species of LCC, like
Mucuna
bracteata
, grow very fast and can suppress other weeds. This
allows us to reduce the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and
subsequently, our chemical footprint.
The LCC species currently planted on our estates are
Calopogonium
caeruleum
,
Calopogonium
mucunoides
,
Centrosema pubescens
,
Pueraria javanica
, and
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 (EFBs) as
soil mulch since the mid 90’s. By using EFBs together with
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 EFBs and POME, which can
potentially replace up to 30% of inorganic fertilisers used.
Through LCC and the use of oil palm by
-
products as organic
fertilisers, we are able to gradually reduce inorganic fertiliser
usage in our plantations. This is illustrated in the graph,
which shows the reduction in inorganic fertiliser usage by
45% in 2013 and 2014 as compared with 2012. In the same
period, usage of organic fertiliser, which comprises EFB,
compost and decanter solids, has also dropped by about 5%
each year. This was because of the 50% increase in compost
production from 2012 to 2014, which could cover more areas
of application.
An annual fertilisation scheme is also developed for each
plantation to provide balanced nutrition for the crops based
on the yield target, field inspection, leaf analysis, soil data,
terrain and climatic characteristics of each site.
Fertiliser Consumption
(Tonnes)
84,310
366,736
349,714
330,672
46,628
46,188
2012
2013
2014
Organic Fertiliser
Inorganic Fertiliser
Note 1: The data is based on the RSPO certified/audited estates,which cover 34%
of the total oil palm estate.
Note 2: The organic fertilisers consist of EFB, compost and wet decanter solids.
Note 3: The inorganic fertilisers consist of urea, potash or MOP, rock phosphate,
dolomite, kieserite, borate and NPK.
