Adoption of mechanization alternatives in oil palm crops in the Colombian Orinoquía natural region☆

The Orinoquía Natural Region in Colombia, particularly the Cumaral and Bajo Upía subzone, serves as the country’s primary palm oil production area. However, it faces with labor shortages and a lack of current mechanization data. This study aims to assess mechanization status to enhance productivity and competitiveness in the oil palm industry. The goal was to determine the mechanization landscape, characterize available technologies, and evaluate their impact on productivity and costs for different types of oil palm producers. Utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire, data was collected from plantation administrators and technical assistants. Analysis focused on identifying mechanization options and assessing machinery adoption, productivity, and costs. Tractors are predominantly used for power, with limited adoption of advanced machinery like grabbers, variable-rate fertilizers, and electrostatic sprayers. Additionally, there’s a notable gap in harvest equipment availability, suggesting a need for further technological development and machinery rental strategies. This study highlights the importance of updated mechanization data and provides insights for decision-makers seeking to improve oil palm productivity and competitiveness in Colombia. By understanding the mechanization landscape, stakeholders can address labor shortages and drive sustainable growth in the oil palm sector

The GHG emissions and economic performance of the Colombian palm oil sector; current status and long-term perspectives

Increasing oil palm plantations, both for obtaining crude palm oil (CPO) and for the production of biobased products, have generated growing concern about the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the environment. Colombia has the potential to produce sustainable biobased products from oil palm. Nevertheless, national GHG emissions have not yet been reported by this sector. Achieving the collection of the total primary data from the oil palm sector, in Colombia, entails a tremendous challenge. Notwithstanding, for this study, the data collection of 70% of the production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) was achieved. Therefore, current situation of CPO production in Colombia is analyzed, including 1) GHG emissions calculation, 2) net energy ratio (NER), and 3) economic performance. Moreover, the analysis includes two future scenarios, where the CPO production chain is optimized to reduce GHG emissions. Future scenario A produces biodiesel (BD), biogas, cogeneration, and compost; while future scenario B produces BD, biogas, cogeneration, and pellets. The methodology, for all the scenarios, includes life-cycle assessment and economic analysis evaluation. The results show a significant potential for improving the current palm oil production, including a 55% reduction in GHG emissions. The impact of land-use change must be mitigated to reduce GHG emissions. Therefore, a sustainable oil palm expansion should be in areas with low carbon stock or areas suitable/available to the crop (e.g., cropland, pastureland). Avoiding the deforestation of natural forests is required. Besides, crop yield should be increased to minimize the land use, using biomass to produce biobased products, and capture biogas to reduce methane emissions. In the biodiesel production life-cycle, the NER analysis shows the fossil energy consumed is lower than the renewable energy produced. Regarding the economic performance, it shows that in an optimized production chain, the capital expenditure and operational expenditure will decrease by approximately 20%

Integral analysis of environmental and economic performance of combined agricultural intensification & bioenergy production in the Orinoquia region

Agricultural intensification is a key strategy to help meet increasing demand for food and bioenergy. It has the potential to reduce direct and indirect land use change (LUC) and associated environmental impacts while contributing to a favorable economic performance of the agriculture sector. We conduct an integral analysis of environmental and economic impacts of LUC from projected agricultural intensification and bioenergy production in the Orinoquia region in 2030. We compare three agricultural intensification scenarios (low, medium, high) and a reference scenario, which assumes a business-as-usual development of agricultural production. The results show that with current inefficient management or with only very little intensification between 26% and 93% of the existing natural vegetation areas will be converted to agricultural land to meet increasing food demand. This results in the loss of biodiversity by 53% and increased water consumption by 111%. In the medium and high scenarios, the intensification allows meeting increased food demand within current agricultural lands and even generating surplus land which can be used to produce bioenergy crops. This results in the reduction of biodiversity loss by 8-13% with medium and high levels of intensification compared to the situation in 2018. Also, a positive economic performance is observed, stemming primarily from intensification of cattle production and additional energy crop production. Despite increasing irrigation efficiency in more intensive production systems, the water demand for perennial crops and cattle production over the dry season increases significantly, thus sustainable management practices that target efficient water use are needed. Agricultural productivity improvements, particularly for cattle production, are crucial for reducing the pressure on natural areas from increasing demand for both food products and bioenergy. This implies targeted investments in the agricultural sector and integrated planning of land use. Our results showed that production intensification in the Orinoquia region is a mechanism that could reduce the pressure on natural land and its associated environmental and economic impacts

Memorias de investigación: Feria de Semilleros y Jornadas de Investigación de uniminuto, Seccional Antioquia - Chocó.

Feria de Semilleros y Jornadas de Investigación de uniminuto, Seccional Antioquia - Chocó.Esta publicación busca divulgar investigaciones y producción académica en diferentes disciplinas, realizadas por estudiantes y docentes de UNIMINUTO Seccional Antioquia – Chocó, así como dar a conocer los semilleros de investigación que participaron en la V Feria de Semilleros, con el fin de visibilizar el trabajo que realiza el Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo de UNIMINUTO Bello —CIDUB—, con respecto a debates académicos y espacios de interlocución. Igualmente, permite que la comunidad educativa conozca los temas de investigación y las discusiones que se están dando entre los semilleros y grupos de investigación, para así buscar puntos de encuentro y sinergias entre los investigadores. Adicionalmente, el texto se convierte en una invitación para que se vinculen otros investigadores, docentes, estudiantes e incluso otras instituciones a los procesos investigativos coordinados desde el CIDUB

Memorias de investigación: Feria de Semilleros y Jornadas de Investigación de uniminuto, Seccional Antioquia - Chocó.

Feria de Semilleros y Jornadas de Investigación de uniminuto, Seccional Antioquia - Chocó.Esta publicación busca divulgar investigaciones y producción académica en diferentes disciplinas, realizadas por estudiantes y docentes de UNIMINUTO Seccional Antioquia – Chocó, así como dar a conocer los semilleros de investigación que participaron en la V Feria de Semilleros, con el fin de visibilizar el trabajo que realiza el Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo de UNIMINUTO Bello —CIDUB—, con respecto a debates académicos y espacios de interlocución. Igualmente, permite que la comunidad educativa conozca los temas de investigación y las discusiones que se están dando entre los semilleros y grupos de investigación, para así buscar puntos de encuentro y sinergias entre los investigadores. Adicionalmente, el texto se convierte en una invitación para que se vinculen otros investigadores, docentes, estudiantes e incluso otras instituciones a los procesos investigativos coordinados desde el CIDUB

Un modelo de simulación discreto para determinar la edad óptima de replantación en presencia de la Pudrición del Cogollo

Se desarrolló un modelo discreto de simulación que arroja como principal resultado el momento óptimo en el cual se deben destruir cultivos perennes que están infestados por enfermedades letales y contagiosas. Este modelo permite considerar diferentes estrategias de control de la enfermedad. Se asume que las estrategias de control tienen efecto sobre la tasa de desarrollo de la enfermedad. Con el fin de construir este modelo utilizamos dos funciones. Primero, la función que representa el flujo de ingreso neto de la compañía. Segundo, la incidencia de la enfermedad en el tiempo. Posteriormente, se aplicó el modelo al caso de la Pudrición de cogollo (pc), enfermedad que amenaza las plantaciones de palma aceitera en Colombia. Se comparan los resultados de tres estrategias de control de la pc. Los resultados indican que es necesario tener como objetivo la disminución de la tasa de contagio lo más cercano posible a cero por ciento. Esto indica que es necesario: 1) Censar regularmente las plantacio¬nes de palma con el fin de detectar casos de pc. 2) Erradicar palmas con niveles avanzados de infección. 3) Tratar palmas con infecciones iniciales de pc, retirando tejidos enfermos. 4) Llevar a cabo los ciclos de fumigaciones con pesticida, como lo sugiere Cenipalma

A framework for determining the period when a perennial crop is no longer profitable after a disease outbreak

A theoretical approach is developed for finding the optimal age to remove an orchard (or plantation) to maximize net present value, after a disease attack. The model is a bioeconomic model that considers the effects of disease manage- ment on disease spread and the effect of the disease on yields. This provides an optimal disease management strategy and optimal rotation period. Our work makes an important contribution to the literature. To the best of our knowledge, no previous work has considered the simultaneous question of optimal disease management and replanting age when disease is present in perennial crops. An empirical application is presented for the case of pudricióndelcogollo, a lethal and contagious disease that threatens oil palm plantations in Colombia. The model could be applied to a wide range of perennial crop diseases

The US Food Safety Modernization Act: Implications for Caribbean Exporters

The potential effects of the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) on Caribbean food exports to the United States are discussed. We use trade data in order to elucidate trends and a theoretical Value Chain Analysis framework. Our results indicate that the US will continue to be an important market for Caribbean exporters and that FSMA will impose food-safety requirements such as traceability and third-party certification. However, this tightening of food safety standards may open a window of opportunity for Caribbean sustainable development since it encourages firms to place emphasis on quality as opposed to price-based competition

Análisis Económico de las enfermedades en plantas perennes

Con el incremento del comercio y el movimiento de personas y productos a través de las fronteras, la transmisión de nuevas enfermedades se ha convertido en un problema importante que enfrenta el sector agrícola de muchos países. El análisis económico de las enfermedades depende de una serie de factores, incluidos la severidad de la enfermedad y los métodos disponibles de control. Este trabajo presenta un esquema de análisis económico para las enfermedades que afectan a las plantas perennes. Las plantas perennes difieren de los cultivos anuales en que el cultivador primero toma una decisión de inversión cuando emprende la siembra del cultivo. La duración del horizonte de inversión difiere de un cultivo a otro. En la mayoría de los cultivos perennes, los cultivadores deben atravesar por un periodo sin ingresos con costos de mantenimiento acumulativos. Por tanto, una vez que el árbol comienza a dar frutos, se realizan unos costos de oportunidad considerables en términos de inversión económica y tiempo. Si se presenta una enfermedad, el cultivador se enfrenta con el desafío de defender su inversión, esperando mitigar el impacto de la enfermedad en los ingresos, por lo menos por un periodo de tiempo suficiente para poder recuperar su inversión inicial. En este contexto, es adecuado un esquema costo-beneficio para estudiar el impacto económico de las enfermedades en cultivos de largo plazo. Los beneficios están constituidos por el flujo de ingresos descontados realizado durante la vida del árbol. Los costos incluyen los normales de mantenimiento más el del tratamiento

The effects and value of a resistant perennial variety: an application to Pudrición del Cogollo disease

This article develops a forestry model to obtain the optimal control strategy and optimal rotation length after a disease attacks in a perennial variety. Three cases are considered: a benchmark consisting of a disease-free field, an identical field with the disease present but no resistant variety with which to replant, and an identical field with the disease present and a resistant variety with which to replant. We determine general decision rules and then apply the model to the case of Pudrición del Cogollo, a major disease threat to the Colombian oil palm industry. In the application, we compare the optimal rotation length between the three scenarios and determine the optimal level of control in each period for the disease scenarios. The singular solution involves complete control of the disease, and in the absence of a resistant variety, the presence of the disease increases the rotation length. With these solutions, we then determine the value of developing a resistant variety. This value depends heavily on the age distribution of the current trees and decreases as the average tree age decreases. The value further declines when the resistance variety has negative attributes such as higher replanting and maintenance costs than the original variety