PALMOILMAGAZINE, PEKANBARU – PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) V, a subsidiary of Holding Perkebunan Nusantara III Persero, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the palm oil industry with the introduction of the Natural Enemies Breeding House (NB House) innovation.
This advancement has proven instrumental in maintaining the health of palm oil plantations, ensuring consistent high-quality production while boosting efficiency.
A prevalent challenge in palm oil plantation industries is the threat posed by caterpillars that feed on palm oil leaves, posing a substantial risk to plantation productivity. In response, PTPN V opted for a natural solution by employing the services of the Sycanus sp., a natural predator capable of controlling caterpillar populations.
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To validate the effectiveness of this approach, the company established the NB House as a central facility for breeding these natural enemies.
Ospin Sembiring, Senior Executive Vice President of Operations at PTPN V, highlighted that this innovative strategy has been implemented across various subsidiaries within the PTPN Group. The straightforward approach has yielded positive impacts on the productivity of the company’s palm oil plantations.
Through the breeding and release of natural enemies to target caterpillars, the pest population can be effectively reduced, resulting in decreased pest attacks and a reduced reliance on chemical materials, thereby promoting environmental sustainability.
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“This was simple idea but there would be incredible impacts. This is called innovation that delivers the positivity effectively and efficiency,” Sembiring said, as Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from the official page of PTPN V, Friday (10/11/2023).
He also mentioned, the breeding of Sycanus was in three phases, they are, laying egg, nymph, and imago. Only in imago, Sycanus would be an effective predator to reduce pest attacks in the field. As the research result by the innovator team – Nava Karina, Ricardo Panjaitan, and Andra Sumarno showed, the approach escalated the population of Sycanus maximally.
Nava Karina emphasized, the research about NB House spent one year and enabled the team to arrange the right formula. It means, PTPN V successfully created a system which efficient not only to control the pests but be environmental.
“Our research showed that breeding natural enemies and releasing predator insects could reduce pest population in the plantations and it is environmental,” Nava said. (T2)
