Sustainable Oil Palm Farming / Categories of bunches

Download: Module 2: Harvesting, Grading, Transport

Bunch category	Bunch characteristics	Deduction	Explanation
Good	Full of fruits Yellow/orange/red colour Several loose fruits Fruits are soft Oil drips out when fruit is cut Undamaged and clean bunch Bunch larger than 3 kg Stalks are less than 2 cm long	No	Optimum oil extraction and quality
Unripe	Fruits mostly black in colour Fruits are hard No loose fruits Inside is yellow No oil comes out when fruits are cut	Yes	Unripe fruit has very little oil
Underripe	Fruits mostly reddish black in colour Hard fruits No loose fruits Yellow inside No oil comes out when a fruit is cut	Yes	Underripe fruit has less oil than ripe fruit
Overripe	Many loose fruits Bright orange-yellow in colour Fruits are soft Oil easily comes dripping out	Yes	Many fruits have already fallen out of the bunch. The oil quality in overripe fruits is less good.
Empty	Few or no fruits left on the bunch	Rejected immediately	Little or no oil
Small	Bunch weighs less than 3 kg Usually from very young palms	Yes	Small bunches from young palms have little oil
Damaged	Damaged by rats or other pests Damaged during harvesting or in transport	Yes	Damaged fruit contains less oil
Long stalk	Bunch stalk is more than 2 cm long	Yes	Stalks add weight without oil and suck up oil during processing

Acknowledgements

The material from Categories of bunches is sourced from Smallholder Oil Palm Handbook and put together by Lotte Suzanne Woittiez (Wageningen Universit) and Haryono Sadikin, Sri Turhina, Hidayat Dani, Tri Purba Dukan, and Hans Smit (SNV) in August 2016. See Module 2: Harvesting, Grading, Transport for more information.