Lasers on our oil palm estates?

Hard work: The physically demanding work on oil palm estates causes a high turnover and consequent shortage of workers. Anything that makes the work easier can only help. — Filepic/The Star

WHILE on video sharing platform YouTube recently, I came across an ingenious method people in China are using to trim or prune large branches of tall trees safely: They use laser beams. In the video, even large branches were quickly felled or lopped off by the beam. Immedi-ately, my curiosity was aroused and what came to my mind was using the technology to easily harvest oil palm fruit bunches, especially from tall palms.

Over the years I have written many letters that were published in newspapers and portals about the oil palm industry.