Virtual palms give real results

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Authors
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Date
1997
Language
en
Type
News Item
Accessibility
Open Access
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Citation
CTA. 1997. Virtual palms give real results. Spore 68. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Permanent link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/48673
Internet URL: http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta68e/
Abstract/Description
Palm oil production should benefit from a new computer simulation program developed by scientists at the French agricultural development agency, CIRAD (Centre de cooperation internationale en recherche agronomique pour le Développement). The...
Notes
Palm oil production should benefit from a new computer simulation program developed by scientists at the French agricultural development agency, CIRAD (Centre de cooperation internationale en recherche agronomique pour le Développement). The program allows researchers to grow 'virtual' crops of oil palm under different regimes of climate and management and to assess the consequences of planting at different spacings, the application of fertilizer and pesticides and the effects of changing rainfall on palm growth and oil yield. The program has been written by Frederic Blaise and his team at CIRAD and is based on 12 years of measurements of real palms growing in the field and several refinements to the initial program. Now, in just a few hours following 'planting' the growth of the cyber palms is complete and the results of various climatic and management factors can be seen. The program should contribute to the improvement of palm oil production in West Africa and benefit those farmers and national economies dependent on oil palm. (See also BEAM p9 Spore 64). Frederic Blaise CIRAD BP 5035 34032 Montpellier Cedex 1 FRANCE
Subjects
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT;
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