Its harvesting time

Its harvesting time.

Average weight of ffb is 15 kilos

 The fortnightly schedule for  harvesting the oil palm bunches has started this morning.  I look forward to this activity because it provides an excellent physical workout that is at the same time rewarding.  I wish I could continue the activity after lunch but due to heavy rains I had to cancel my afternoon workout.  The average weight of the fresh fruit bunches (ffb) is 15 kg.  Of course there are those that are in the range of 20 - 30 kilos and are harder to lift and carry on the wheelbarrow.  But that is merely part of the occupational hazard.  For those trees that are between 7 - 8 years old the degree of difficulty increases when you need a much longer pruning pole to cut the fruit stalk.  For trees that are 3 - 6 years old a sharp harvesting chisel will do fine as the cutting operation is done at human height.  Below is shown the cutting operation of the leaf bases before finally cutting the fruit stalk.

Two leaf bases below the fruit bunch are  cut first

The pruning pole's cutting blade is fixed at the fruit stalk and with a little pull will remove the bunch from the trunk.

Done. The fruit bunch has been removed and other fruit bunches will be pruned once the fruits  show signs of ripening.