PLANTATION LIFE (5) Oil Palm - Planting

 Tenegang, Lahad Datu, Sabah, MALAYSIA

Young oil palms transferred out from the nursery

and planted in the palm groves.

  Establishment of leguminous cover plants

immediately following land clearing.

  

  leguminous cover plants

Dirt road leading to our residence,

a temporary timber bungalow built on top of a hill.

The first oil palm plantation in Malaysia started in 1917 and planted on a large scale in Tennamaram Estate by M. H. Fauconnier. Soon, Alexander Guthrie founded the Guthrie stable of estates and John Middleton Sime teamed up with Henry Darby to establish the Sime Darby group of estates. (Images of plantations in the early 1900’s, here).

Today the largest Palm Oil Company in Malaysia is Synergy Drive Sdn. Bhd. which was formed after merging Golden Hope Plantations Bhd., Sime Darby Bhd. and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd. Synergy Drive Sdn. Bhd. have more than 500,000 hectares (1,300,000 acres) of Oil Palm Plantation in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is the world's biggest oil palm planter with planted area close to 900,000 hectares in Malaysia and Indonesia. Felda was formed on July 1, 1956 when the Land Development Act came into force with the main aim of eradicating poverty.