KUCHING: Jaya Tiasa Holdings Bhd
has embarked on a pilot project of using drone to improve the management of its oil palm plantations and to reduce the reliance on manual systems.
The drone is equipped with high resolution cameras for aerial surveillance of the general field and palm health conditions, according to chief executive officer Datuk Jin Kee Mou.
“Over time, the practicality of the drone technology will be extended to all the plantations for more concise collection of the ground information for better plantation management,” he said in the group’s 2023 annual report.
Jin said the deployment of drone is a way of mechanisation to improve on operational efficiency and effectiveness and to stay competitive in the industry.
Jaya Tiasa has 10 oil palm estates covering a combined land bank of 83,483 ha, with total planted and matured area of 68,589 ha, in Sarawak.
The average age of the palms is 14 years, which is within the prime production bracket.
On the shortages of plantation workers, he said the situation has improved since the signing of memorandum of understanding between Malaysia and Indonesia for the entry and employment of Indonesian workers more than a year ago.
“With an anticipated higher cost of labour, we will focus on worker recruitment drive to attract the younger generation of the local workforce.
“We will continue to emphasise on training and improving the skills of our staff and workers as we invest in various training and development programmes, so that our employees can consistently improve and stay competent to support their own growth and increase work productivity to meet our business objectives,” added Jin.
He said the group has started transitioning to solar power for its in-field lighting in several oil palm estates in efforts to cut down the dependency on fossil fuel to reduce carbon emission.
If feasible, the initiative will be replicated to the remaining estates and for other consumption.
On the installation of clean air emission for boilers of the group’s palm oil mills, Jin said works has commenced with the fabrication of the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for two of the mills, and the projects are expected to be completed by June 30, 2024 (FY24).
“For the third crude palm oil (CPO) mill, we are awaiting approval of the design of the ESP, which was submitted to the Department of Environment at the start of FY24.
“Our fourth CPO mill, which is the newest of our four mills, is already equipped with the wet scrubber technology since its commissioning,” he added.
The installation of clean air emission is the group’s commitment towards contributing to a low carbon future.
In FY23, Jaya Tiasa derived 93% of its revenue of RM855mil from oil palm business, which it diversified into in 2002.
It commenced operations in 1987 as a downstream wood processing company but shut down its plywood manufacturing three years ago to cut losses.
Jaya Tiasa is into logging operations, producing 91,220 cu m of logs in FY23, which was down from 111,307 cu m in FY22.
Year-on-year (y-o-y), log sales fell 27%,with about 84% of the logs exported to India and the remaining 16% to Japan.
