Bridging the Technological Divide in Malaysia’s Palm Oil Sector: Enhancing Smallholder Access to Plantation-Scale Innovation
Keywords:
oil palm, Malaysia, technology, smallholders, SLR, plantationAbstract
large plantations and over 440,000 smallholders who cultivate around 40% of the country’s total oil palm area. While large plantations have adopted precision agriculture, mechanized harvesting, and advanced crop monitoring systems, independent smallholders often lack access to such innovations, leading to significant productivity disparities. This technological gap not only hampers national output but also entrenches economic inequality within the sector. To address this, there is an urgent need to identify plantation-level technologies suitable for smallholder adoption and to understand the drivers that influence their readiness to adopt these technologies. This study aims to identify the technologies employed by large oil palm plantations that have the potential to be adopted by smallholders. The findings from this review are expected to inform inclusive technology integration strategies in Malaysia’s palm oil sector and provide evidence-based insights into bridging the productivity gap between plantations and small farms.
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