Taking Advantage of Unfavourable Weather
With the monsoon season set to continue from now till March, can plantation managers make the best out of these unpredictable situations?
For oil palm plantations, excessive downpour could cost thousands of ringgit worth of crops. Although palm trees are naturally resistant to wet weather, excessive rainfall could cause delays in harvesting intervals, leading to overripe fruit bunches and poor CPO quality.
Plus, flooded areas disrupt roads and pathways. Sometimes, it would even prevent workers from accessing specific areas of the plantation. Whether it is transporting fruits from estates to mills, or obtaining full worker attendance, water management is a skill.
The double blow of weather issues and persistent labour shortage could continue to have an adverse effect on the oil palm industry. Leading analyst, James Fry claimed that these issues will hinder the growth of global oil palm supply at least for the next few years.
Controlling Weather?
No, we cannot possibly control the weather. However, there are always ways to make the most out of these unfavourable situations. The answer lies in the power of data and information.
Better Plan, Better Yield
As a plantation manager, it is always crucial to have documented information or data banks that record the daily happenings around your plantation.
Collecting these data and subsequently generating insights from them would certainly help in smarter plantation analysis and planning, which would assist in producing better yield results.
In terms of facing damaging weather, having the data on the average rainfall in your plantation area would enable managers to forecast the effect of the monsoon season on a plantation’s productivity and efficiency.
Along with other relevant data, plantation managers could accordingly plan to minimise risk and reduce resource wastage during the monsoon season.
Instant Impact with Data Automation
A data automation system would also be crucial in facing unfavourable weather. When integrated with cloud computing, a data automation system would enable managers and workers to instantly key-in or access important data anywhere, anytime.
With GPS and fingerprint scanner, workers could seamlessly record their attendance at the harvesting site. This would eliminate the issue of non-attendance due to flood or phantom workers in your plantation.
Workers could also simply report water or irrigation issues around the plantation. With mapping features included, managers would be able to gather the information recorded by the workers and react accordingly to the issue.
Rooms for Technological Enhancement
All of these efforts to combat bad weather could also be enhanced using modern mechanisation and technology.
Advanced machines such as drones could also help to monitor irrigation issues and water level around the plantation. With its fine mapping and imagery features, it is possible to further reduce resource wastage and redirect the excessive water from flooding areas to your own advantage!
With the power of data and the ever-evolving technology, there could be many more workarounds to combat unfavourable weather.
Contact us to learn more on how to turn unfavourable weather to your advantage with Quarto!
