Analysis of a pineapple-oil palm intercropping system in Malaysia

Abstract
In Malaysia, the second largest producer of palm oil globally, about a third of all oil palm planted area
is managed by smallholder farmers. An increase of the average yields of these smallholders is needed
to meet the rising demand for vegetable oil and prevent further loss of tropical rainforest. One
strategy to increase yields is to enable timely replanting of aged oil palm fields.
A method to enable replanting as practised by smallholder farmers on peat soil on Johor is
pineapple-oil palm establishment intercropping. To assess the potential of this farming system to
sustainably increase smallholder yields, this study aimed to understand the environmental, economic
and social effects of pineapple-oil palm intercropping and to formulate recommendations for
improvement of the sustainability of pineapple-oil palm intercropping on peat soil.
Data on oil palm and pineapple growth and productivity and on agronomic, economic and social
aspects of this farming system have been gathered in Johor through field measurements, key
informant interviews and farmer interviews. Statistical analysis of crop data and descriptive analysis
of farming system information provided an overview of the most important sustainability issues.
These issues were used for a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis.
The results showed that pineapple-oil palm intercropping has large positive economic effects,
providing farmers an average income of US$21 000 ha-1 over the four-year intercropping period. No
significant negative effects of intercropping on oil palm and pineapple growth and productivity could
be found. On the other hand, smallholders used practices which increased negative environmental
effects of cultivation on peat soil, such as burning of crop residues and suboptimal fertilisation.
It is concluded that pineapple-oil palm establishment intercropping can increase smallholder yields.
However, to do so sustainably it is needed to find alternative pineapple removal methods, formulate
good agricultural practices and confirm that this intercropping system has no negative effects on
palm oil yields throughout the whole palm life cycle.