A Review on Possibilities of Intercropping with Immature Oil Palm

Oil palm (Elæisguineensis) is identified as the world's leading edible oil producing plant and well established as a perennial plantation crop in tropical countries. Economic life span of the plant is around 30–35 years and stand per hectare is around 120–135 plants. At the initial stage of the plantations (age up to 3–5 years) there are ample amount of free space available inside young plantations. During this period growers were not getting any income from oil palm and have to spend several other agricultural practices such as weeding. Intercropping with young oil palm is possible and practiced specially by small and medium scale farmers with suitable combinations of crop species. Early identification, proper management of short and medium term intercrops gives better returns for the farmers. Furthermore, in addition to the advantages there were some limitations for intercropping with young oil palm.