ABSTRACT:
Most oil palm smallholders do not practice consistent and accurate farm record-keeping. Thus, it is difficult to provide effective extension services without knowing the actual production of the smallholders in relation to cost and profit. Currently, there is no specific system in place to capture records of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield and price received by individual oil palm smallholders in Malaysia. Therefore, a new system known as the Oil Palm Smallholder Information Card or Kad Informasi Pekebun Kecil Sawit (KIPS) has been developed to capture the FFB transactions by smallholders using dealers as the intermediary. This study aimed to assess the adoption, challenges and effectiveness of the proposed KIPS system. Apart from that, the study aimed to identify the current record-keeping practices and FFB transaction practices among smallholders and dealers. The study was carried out among oil palm smallholders who are selling FFB to three FFB dealers in the Sepang and Kuala Langat districts in Selangor, Malaysia. Proportionate and simple random sampling was employed in this study to determine the respondents for each dealer while interview-administrated questionnaires were employed to obtain the relevant data. The adoption level of the KIPS system among smallholders was found to be poor. One of the challenges of the KIPS system is the difficulty for smallholders to be present during every FFB transaction. The study revealed that the proposed KIPS system needs to be improved to include an online-based web portal for data entry in addition to the use of the card prior to implementing this system all over the country.
Keyword: oil palm smallholders, oil palm dealers, farm record-keeping system, monitoring and recording system
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