PERTUMBUHAN TANAMAN KELAPA SAWIT DI LAHAN PASANG SURUT

Abstract

Limitations of potential land for the palm oil industry in Indonesia led to the development of
mature oil palm plantations leads to marginal lands with various limiting factors. One of
the marginal lands that could potentially as an alternative for palm oil development in the tidal
wetlands. The potential of tidal land for oil palm cultivation is mainly related to the flat
topography and water availability throughout the year to minimize the possibility of
water deficit. However, there are some critical issues that become limiting for the
development of oil palm plantations, which severely hampered drainage, high salinity,
the potential content of pyrite, peat depth and maturity, as well as greater investment for
infrastructure development. Growth and productivity of oil palm trees in addition to tidal
land affected by the improvement in the fertility rate are also influenced by water
management. The observation of vegetative ( leaf area ) of oil palm plantations age of 2
years in a swamp area pitu ( pyrite 80-100 cm depth ) showed that the water management
in the water level of 20-40 cm had greater leaf area ( 2.93 m2 ) compared with water
management 0-20 cm ( 2.40 m2 ) and 40-60 cm ( 2.21 m2 ) below the ground surface.
According to Winarna ( 2007), the productivity of oil palm plantations aged 10 years on
acid sulfate soil in North Sumatra with water management and good pyrite can reach the
range of 20-24 tonnes FFB /ha/year. The results of the observations made by Harahap
and Siregar (2004 ) at the age of oil palm plantation in Betong Krawo 5-6 years ( depth of 
pyrite 50-100 cm ) with water management and pyrite are not maximized, which indicates
that the low productivity range 10.86 - 12.70 tonnes FFB /ha/year.