Rat pests are a concern for oil palm farmers and companies. These rodents eat young palm fronds and loose fruits.
Rats (Rattus Sp.) have a lifespan of 1.5 – 2 years, a gestation period of 3 weeks, give birth to 3-6 times a year and produce 7-8 cubs per birth. The mouse population can reproduce rapidly because a female mouse can give birth to 21-48 tails in one year.
A rat can destroy about 5-6 oil palm plants per day, so this is a serious threat to oil palm planters if the rat population in oil palm plantations cannot be controlled.
Asian Agri is committed to implementing the best oil palm plantation practices by implementing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which focuses on reducing the use of pesticides and utilizing natural predators to control pests in oil palm plantations.
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