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The oil palm pollinating weevil, Elaeidobius kamerunicus, has become the single most important insect pollinator of the commodity crop in Malaysia and Indonesia, 40 years after its introduction. However, in 2020, the average national oil extraction rate (OER) has decreased from 20.21% to 19.92%. The decline was attributed to the lower oil palm fruit bunch quality. This has raised concerns on the pollination efficiency of the pollinator. As such, the factors affecting the pollination efficiency of E. kamerunicus were thoroughly discussed in this review. Eight factors, which were categorised into intrinsic and extrinsic factors, were discussed in detail. Intrinsic factors discussed are the genetic make-up of E. kamerunicus and its population level. Meanwhile, factors such as planting materials, soil types, plant physiological condition, volatiles emission, diseases/predators threatening E. kamerunicus and climatic factors were discussed in the extrinsic factors. Methods for maintaining a healthy pollinator population were suggested, as well as an emphasis on future studies based on the shortlisted factors.

This study was conducted to determine the level of job satisfaction and its relationships with job factors among extension agents involved in Malaysia’s oil palm industry. Data were collected by a census method using self-administered questionnaires from a total of 254 respondents. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) was used to measure job satisfaction of the respondents. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. The results indicated that the job satisfaction level amongst the extension agents was high. This study also found that there was a significant positive relationship between job satisfaction and job factors, namely salary, promotion opportunities, supervision, co-workers, work environment and the work itself. To ensure continuous job satisfaction amongst extension agents, contributing factors towards job satisfaction should be given attention and maintained by the organisation.

Forest conversion to oil palm plantation is causing a major loss of biodiversity in Southeast Asia and other tropical regions. Oil palm plantations have less biodiversity because of their simplified vegetation, human disturbances, and extreme microclimate conditions. Alley-cropping system incorporates a secondary crop in the alleys between the main crops. In some cases alley-cropping can result in a greater vegetation structural complexity, thus potentially providing agricultural and ecological benefits, including: buffering against weather extremes, reduction in soil erosion, increased biodiversity, and increased nutrient and water-use efficiency. In this study, we compared vegetation structure (height and cover of vegetation), microclimate (air temperature, relative humidity, light intensity and wind speed), and soil conditions (soil surface temperature, soil pH and soil moisture) across a range of alley-cropping systems and two ages of monoculture oil palm. We found that alley- cropping system had varied structural complexity across different crops when compared to oil palm monoculture system. Careful selection of crops was essential, with black pepper and cacao having the largest impact on improving vegetation heterogeneity and microclimate regulation when incorporated into an alley-cropping system. In particular, we found that systems intercropped with black pepper had air and soil surface temperatures up to 1.3 °C and 2.1 °C cooler than those in oil palm monoculture. In contrast, systems intercropped with bactris and bamboo had increased air temperatures. Our findings show that some alley-cropping systems have great potential as a climate-smart practice in sustainable oil palm agriculture. This study also shows that careful selection of crops is important in the planning and management of future alley-cropping system to optimise the ecosystem benefits that can be gained from this management system.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is among the fastest expanding crops, due to high global demand for vegetable oils. Large areas of forest are converted into oil palm plantation to meet the market demand in producing countries which causes rapid decline in tropical biodiversity, including arthropods. The alley-cropping system has the potential to promote faunal biodiversity, related ecosystem services and food security in agricultural landscapes. In alley-cropping, a main crop is intercropped with a secondary crop (often a food crop), secondary crops are cultivated in the alleys in between the main crop. We compared arthropod taxonomic richness, arthropod predators and decomposers between five alley-cropping treatments (pineapple, bamboo, black pepper, cacao, bactris), where oil palm is intercropped with another species. In addition, we sampled two control treatments: monoculture oil palm, aged seven and 15 years old. A total of 50,155 arthropod individuals were recorded using pitfall trap sampling, representing 19 orders and 28 families. Fourteen orders belonging to sub-phylum Insecta, three orders from Arachnida (Araneae; Acarinae; Scorpiones) and two orders from Myriapoda (Chordeumatida; Geophilomorpha). We detected an increase in beta-diversity of oil palm production landscape. Specifically, we found that the number of arthropod orders, families and abundance were significantly greater in alley-cropping farming plots than those in monoculture plots. In addition, alley-cropping treatments contained larger numbers of predators and decomposers. Our findings suggest that the alley-cropping system can become a key management strategy to improve biodiversity and ecosystem functions within oil palm production landscapes.

Nowadays, monitoring and observing insect pest populations is a major and crucial issue in agriculture, especially for crop protection. Spectroscopic techniques are well recognized for detecting and monitoring insect pests in the field and also the internal quality of fruit. There are several spectroscopic techniques with specific characteristic features, including mass spectrometry, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear resonance spectroscopy. Nevertheless, limitations and complexity are the constraints of these technologies. In this paper, the spectroscopic and imaging spectroscopic techniques are discussed, compared, and investigated, namely fluorescence light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to study the fluorescence of diverse types of planthopper (Hemiptera) and moth (Lepidoptera), visible and near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy to detect internal insect-infested jujubes, NIR spectroscopy to determine spectral properties of oil palm bagworms, hyperspectral transmittance image for detecting insect-damaged vegetable soybeans, and remote sensing measurement to detect bagworm infestation in oil palm plantations. These techniques are found to be reliable methods for better monitoring of insect pest movement in the harvested plant and in the ground, for the detection of insect-damaged vegetable soybeans and internal insect infestation in jujubes, and for the determination of oil palm bagworm spectral properties.