and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

CROP PROTECTION AND PEST MANAGEMENT OF
OIL PALM IN INDONESIA
A. Djamin
Pusat Penclitian Marihat, P.O. Box 37
Pematang Siantar, S umatera, Indonesia
Indonesia is presently the second largest oil palm producer in the world. By
the end of PELITA IV(Five Year Plan IV) in 1990, Indonesia plans to have ca.
1.35 million ha of oil palm in 12 provinces stretching from Aceh to Irian Jaya
(Purba & Dillon 1985). The climate in Indonesia is generally hot and humid and
the temperature fluctuates onl!y slightly. In most areas where oil palm will be
planted, rainfall occurs throughout the year. These conditions favor pest
development, particularly if host plants are available all year around, like oil
palm. All parts of the oil palm are attacked by pests, but leaf-eating caterpillars
(LECs) are always chronic and troublesome to oil palm planters. Small attacks
by nettle caterpillars occurred in the 1920s (De Jong 1925, Gonggrijp 1930).
Althoui the attacks very seldom develop into outbreaks, experience in North
Sumatra in the past two decades indicates that insects can be one of the major
constraints on oil palm production. Therefore, this gigantic development plan
surely calls for sound crop protection and correct management of oil palm pests,
using methodology which is applicable in the whole country.
This paper will review oil paln crop protection in Indonesia with emphasis
on North Sumatra, the origin and center of the oil palm industry in the country.
Discussion will be limited to LECs since they are now the most important
group of pests on oil palm.
OIL PALM CROP PROTECTION
Leaf-Eating Caterpillars (LECs)
Oil palm leaves are attacked by several species of caterpillars, mostly
limacodids (nettle caterpillars) and psychids (bagworms). These LECs are
polyphagous on many host plants, e.g., coconut, tea, coffee, oil palm, nipa
palm, cinchona, etc. There were many effective natural enemies recorded on
many of them (Kalshoven 1950/51). De Jong (1925) and Gonggrijp (1930)
reported that in the 1920s there were incidences of chronic but small attacks by
nettle caterpillars on oil palm. However, before World Wai II there were few
reports mentioning LEC attack on oil palm Ihat developed into cutbreaks,
although they did cause severe outhrcaks on other hosts, e.g., Darna trima on
cocoa and Setora nitens on coconut (Kalshoven 1950/5 1). The recommended
insecticide against LECs was lead arsenate. However, Kalshoven (1950/51)