African Oil Palm - Elaeis guineensis

Wednesday, 05 April, 2023 11:11:30 AM

Oil Palms in Sabah > African Oil Palm - Elaeis guineensis

An old African Oil Palm tree in Malaysia -
An Elaeis guineensis standing alone by a Malaysian road side.
On the distant background is the Palm Oil Mill (with 2 chimney) that process the fruits into crude oil for export.

African oil palm

Elaeis guineensis Jacq

Found in Africa and is known as the African oil palm.

Commonly known as the oil palm is the most important species in the genus Elaeis which belongs to the family Palmae.

Cultivars or races of E. guineensis can be differentiated by their fruit pigmentation and characteristics; the most common cultivars being the Dura, Tenera and Pisifera which are classified according to endocarp or shell thickness and mesocarp content.

1	2	3

Dura palms	Tenera palms	Pisifera palms
have 2-8mm thick endocarp and medium mesocarp content (35%-55% of fruit weight)	have 0.5-3mm thick endocarp and high mesocarp content of 60%-95%	have not endocarp and about 95% mesocarp.

American oil palm.

Elaeis oleifera (H.B.K) Cortes

Found in South and Central America and is known as the American oil palm.

Although significantly lower in oil-to-bunch content than its African counterpart, E. oleifera has a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids and has been used for production of interspecfic hybrids with E. guineensis.

Oil palm (or Elaesis guineensis) originated from the coastal swamplands and freshwater riverines of Central and West Africa.

The Oil Palm was first introduced into the then Malaya in 1870 when it was the regarded as an ornamental plant. It was almost fifty years later that its commercial viability as an estate crop was recognized and the first commercial oil palm plantation was started at Tennamaran Estate, Batang Berjuntai in Selangor.

In the sixties, with the increasing demand for edible oils in the world market, coupled with the mounting threat of synthetic rubber, Malaysia embarked on a vast planned agricultural diversification programme. New lands were opened up and old rubber lands were replanted with oil palm. The area under oil palm cultivation was 54, 000 hectares in 1960. Today, thirty years later, the area under cultivation has reached 2,000,000 hectares.

Sixty years after the first commercial planting on an estate basis, Malaysia has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. However, this position is over taken by Indonesia today. The production has dramatically increased from 92,000 tonnes in 1960 to an estimated 6,000,000 tonnes for the year 1989.

Developing fruit bunches on a two years old oil palm tree

With good quality planting materials and agronomic practices, oil palm begins producing the oil-bearing fruit bunches as early as two and a half years after planting. While the lifespan of oil palm is at least 120 years, the crop is generally grown for 25-30 years before being replanted. This is mainly because old palm becomes too tall to harvest economically.

Elaeis Guineensis Jacq. Reyou No.4

In 2020, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has selected the first oil-producing palm tree species Elaeis Guineensis Jacq. Reyou No.4 for mass production in China.

An old oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia