A dedicated contributor and helper to palm industry: Jyen Herr, MORI, Taiwan

1. MORI’s history into the palm industry

2. Current situation: the labor shortage in the Malaysian Palm industry

3. Labor shortage results in the unprecedented new high of palm oil

4. A new change: Mechanization

5. Challenge: How does palm harvest mechanization result in high output?

6. How much does a 500Ha palm field owner save from reducing 70% of the workers?

7. The maintenance and all expenses of palm cutters should also be considered to determine if the use of palm cutters can save the cost of palm harvesting.

8. Demands of labor protection and the environmental criteria of palm industry.

9. Saw Blades designed for palm harvest beginner

10. Transmission Gear Case for motorized palm cutters

11. Future Prospect

A dedicated contributor and helper to palm industry: Jyen Herr, MORI, Taiwan

As one of the world's most innovative manufacturers, Jyen Herr Enterprise Co., Ltd. (MORI) specializes in making pro-featured outdoor power tool products that make every job easy. 

MORI is a company that has built its reputation by producing gardening and agricultural products. Today, MORI is offering the world more pro-featured, affordable power tools than ever that are all backed by our 25-years expertise with strict and precise high standard quality control. 

[MORI staff and palm farmer doing field test]

1. MORI’s history into the palm industry
It all started in 2014, the time we discovered the hard-working load on palm farmers in Malaysia and Indonesia when we were visiting our Malaysian distributors. To ease the farmers’ burden, we utilize our research and design ability on developing tools that could increase the farmers’ productivity.

2. Current situation: the labor shortage in the Malaysian Palm industry
Nearly 300 million Indonesian workers worked in the Malaysia palm field, providing most of the workforce. Many of the workers flew back to Indonesia because of Covid-19, and the Malaysian government also locked down their borders to prevent the spread of the virus. The sequential chain reaction leads to the labor shortage in the Malaysian Palm industry.

3. Labor shortage results in the unprecedented new high of palm oil
Labor shortage causes palm oil yields to drop to an unprecedented low. The low palm oil yield from the biggest palm oil output country, Malaysia, caused the palm oil price to reach its peak at 5424 MYR per ton. This is the highest palm oil price ever recorded in history.

[History of palm oil price] (Picture source from:https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/palm-oil)

4. A new change: Mechanization

Although companies and officials have been seeking more efficient ways to harvest palm fruits, things had not been moving as fast as the present. Farmers started to use:
　1. Earth auger for palm tree planting.
　2. Backpack power sprayer for pesticide.
　3. Grass Cutter for weeding.
　4. Water pump for irrigation.
　5. Palm cutter for palm fruit harvesting.
　6. Tractors and carts for delivery.
Hoping the palm industry can raise its yield back to the time before Covid-19.
However, the partial implementation of mechanization could not stop the overall rise of palm oil prices. The progress of mechanization must be faster.

Earth Auger	Backpack Power Sprayer	Grass Cutter

[Mechanized tools in palm field]

Water pump	Water pump

[Mechanized tools in palm field] (Picture source from:https://www.trimmer.com.tw/index.html)

5. Challenge: How does palm harvest mechanization result in high output?

　1. A lot of people might be questioning the effectiveness of palm cutters. Do palm cutters help to increase the productivity of palm harvesting?
According to our data, a 500 Ha palm plantation field owner can reduce up to 70% number of workers.

[Comparison between the motorized cutters and manual harvest method] 

6. How much does a 500Ha palm field owner save from reducing 70% of the workers?
Seldom have we calculated how much we need to spend to hire a foreign worker. Deducting 21 foreign workers from the palm field, how much does the owner benefit from this change?
A palm field owner will be able to save 200,896 yearly for deducting 21 owners from the palm field when we take all expenses into account including Levy, medical, food & recruitment, etc.

[Savings for reducing 70% of the foreign labors in the palm field]

7. The maintenance and all expenses of palm cutters should also be considered to determine if the use of palm cutters can save the cost of palm harvesting.
Considering all expenses for a palm cutter, the overall expense is around 2457RM per year.
Palm cutter price: RM 3,600
Average lifespan: 2 years
Repair and Maintenance: cost@0.1%=3.6RM /day
(RM 3,600+3.6RM/day*365day)/2years=2,457RM/year

[Annual expense of a motorized palm cutter]

　1. Yearly saving of mechanizing for a 500 Ha palm field.

[Comparison of Number of workers required for motorized palm cutter and manual harvesting method]

With the mechanization of palm harvesting, the yearly saving for a palm field owner will be: 200896RM-3*2457RM=193,525RM

8. Demands of labor protection and the environmental criteria of palm industry.

When mechanization of palm harvesting comes to a certain degree, the demands of labor protection and environmental criteria rise. The vibration from motorized palm cutters was considered to be harmful to farmers when used all day long. The emission of motorized palm cutters also results in a bad reputation for environmental issues. Thus, a new generation of palm cutters emerged that resolved both problems and will be the next helpful harvesting tool that will benefit all farmers.

Electric palm cutter

[Electric palm cutter]

9. Saw Blades designed for palm harvest beginner
It takes a long time to train a professional worker to harvest with sickle and chisel at high productivity. Consequently, MORI developed a durable saw blade for beginners to get used to palm cutting before they become professional farmers.
Working differently with sickle and chisel, saw blades cut through palm leaves rather than breaking through palm leaves like sickle and chisel.
Although not being widely used in the palm cutting industry. This blade is also looking forward to becoming the next important blade when all manual palm harvesting methods are abandoned, and all harvesting methods are turned into motorized harvesting because the use of saw blades is more beneficial to gear cases of the motorized palm cutters.

[Saw blade for palm cutters]

10. Transmission Gear Case for motorized palm cutters
Not only does the blade's problem need to be solved, the power transmission system is also very important when it comes to palm cutting, as it provides the backward and forward action for the blade. A well-designed transmission gear case can reduce vibration and provide efficient power transmission.
The first and special design of the MORI gear case has been patented in several countries like Indonesia, America, etc.
(Patents:TW201737790A/TWM450967U/US20170314660A1/US10221929B2/CN202833899U/P00201702738)

11. Future Prospect

Although facing numerous problems when trying to figure out a better way to help the palm industry, MORI will not stop its dedication and research in the palm industry. MORI is keep looking for new opportunities and tools to make the farmer’s work easy.
MORI is open to listening to all problems in the palm industry. Possessing the abilities in machinery design, circuit design, and programming, we hope we can make ourselves a good and helpful company in the palm industry.)

[MORI logo]