May 19 - June 03, 2012

Coto y Quepos, Costa Rica

FOREWORD

ASD is pleased to announce its well recognized ‘International Course on Oil Palm Cultivation’, this time to be offered for English speaking students. So far we have accumulated more than 30 years of experience capacitating growers from around the world in oil palm cultivation, and the International Course on Oil Palm Cultivation’ has been held 32 times, with a participation of more than one thousand students from more than 18 countries. The course has several target groups: agronomists, estate managers, supervisors and decision makers in commercial oil palm plantations.

The Course

The ‘International Course on Oil Palm Cultivation’ offers a unique opportunity for capacitating all professionals working (or called to work) in commercial oil palm plantations. The course combines formal talks on diverse topics with hands-on field work. We back the course with the experience of the oldest oil palm plantation in the Americas, the Numar Group, with more than 60 years dedicated to this crop, and the well recognized international experience of ASD professionals. Even though the course covers all aspects of the agro industry, the emphasis is placed on the agricultural component, and oil extraction and processing are not discussed in detail.  

The Coto locality, where most of the activity will take place, is situated in the Southern Pacific region, about 350 km from San José (the capital city of Costa Rica), where ASD Costa Rica has most of its facilities that include classrooms, administrative offices, laboratories, seed garden and the seed processing unit. The course includes guided visits to this complex, considered one-of-a-kind in tropical America. 

During the course we will also include visits to commercial plots to observe the performance of different seed varieties and clones in commercial plantations located in the Coto region and Quepos on the Central Pacific coast.

Objectives

Students are expected to receive a throughout exposition to the main factors that determine the commercial success of an oil palm plantation in terms of yields. After completing the course, the students should have a clear idea on the impact of all agronomic decisions taken since the moment a particular place is chosen to initiate an oil palm plantation, and the technology available to help taken the best of such decisions.