Courses on Oil Palm Cultivation

ASD has a long tradition organizing courses on oil palm cultivation. This program was initiated more than three decades ago, and more than one thousand students from about 20 countries have been so far trained. The most popular of these courses has been the International Oil Palm Course offered for Spanish speakers, but we now feel that the time is opportune to sense the need for a new course offered in English. If your company is in need of high quality training in oil palm cultivation for your technical personnel, we ask you to contact us as soon as possible. We need a minimum of students to make feasible such an activity, which could be offered in mid 2012 (three weeks duration).
For further information, please contact:
          Carlos Chinchilla (cmlchinchilla@gmail.com, c.chinchilla@asd-cr.com)
          Johanna Mora (j.morac@asd-cr.com)

Topics covered

• Morphology and physiology of the oil palm
• Climatic requirements
• Breeding
• Commercial seed production and processing
• Clonal propagation
• Nursery layout and management
• Plantation layout and infrastructure
• Land preparation
• Planting and maintenance of young plantings
• Cover crops and weed managements
• Plant nutrition and fertilization
• Integrated management of phytosanitary problems
• Harvesting, pruning and harvest quality control
• Infield collection and fruit transport
• Oil extraction mills and effluent treatment
• Administrative aspects
• Business prospects for vegetable oils on a worldwide level

Courses in other countries

From 1988 to the present, many courses have been given in several countries in tropical America and Africa. These courses normally have a duration of 1-3 weeks, and the topics are similar to those covered in the courses given in Costa Rica.

In-service training in specific areas

This is a practical training. Here, the participants learn by doing and sharing experiences with the personnel in charge of the plantations in Costa Rica. The duration of a specific training varies according to the area of interest and the previous experience of the trainees.