Summary: Ooi Ling Hoak (OLH)
OOI LING HOAK (OLH)

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Education
1976
B. Agr. Sc. (1st class Hons)
University of Malaya
Career Outline
1976
Agricultural Officer
Department of Agriculture, Perak
1976 – 1977
Plantation Assistant
Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.
1977 – 1986
Agronomist, Research Officer
Highlands Research Unit (HRU) Sdn. Bhd.
1986 – 2003
Agronomist, Principal Research Officer and Section Head, Techno-Economic and Management Section.
Applied Agricultural Research (AAR) Sdn. Bhd.
2004 – 2008
Agronomist, Principal Research Officer and Section Head, Techno-Economic and Management Section.
Advanced Agriecological Research (AAR) Sdn. Bhd.
Job Description
As an Agronomist, my main duty is to provide agronomic advices on oil palm, cocoa and coconut to our two Principals; Boustead Plantations Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, and also to our clients. I have more than twenty five years’ experience in the nutrition, pest and disease control and planting practices in these crops. Occasionally, I also carry out economic and feasibility studies on the three plantation crops. As a Principal Research Officer, I am responsible for the research programmes undertaken by the Techno-Economic and Management Section. The research programmes cover mechanization/automation, worker productivity improvement, development of worker and manager-friendly techniques, treatment and utilization of palm oil mill by-products, precision agriculture, land clearing, drainage and economic studies.
Key Research Interests
My current research interests are: 1) zero-waste zero-discharge system of treating palm oil mill effluent (POME) and empty fruit bunch (EFB), 2) detaching fruits from fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and sending only the loose fruits to the mills, 3) zero-burn techniques of clearing oil palm for replanting and their impacts on the replanted palms, 4) automation of FFB weighing in the field and transmitting data to the plantation office wirelessly for the production of yield map, crop production and harvester performance reports, payroll and other reports required by the plantation managers and agronomists, 5) to integrate a controller to a local fertilizer spreader for variable rate application of fertilizer on the go, and 6) mechanization of FFB evacuation and application of fertilizer/EFB.
Discoveries
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Products
Have led or directly involved in the development of the following products:
  • Oil palm yield monitor in the form of a purpose-built instrumented tractor-trailer equipped with load cells, GPS receiver, memory chip and wireless communication system, and supported by in-house customized software. This was jointly developed by AAR, Avery Malaysia S/B and Montek Technologies (M) S/B and could be considered as the first oil palm yield monitor in the world. The system is able to automate the weighing and recording of FFB weight, location and time data and transmit them to the plantation office. Among other uses, the data acquired could be used to generate accurate yield map to serve as a starting point for precision agriculture (Ooi et al., 2003; Ooi & Heng, 2005).
  • Boustead Biotherm Palmass Plant and Process. This zero-waste zero-discharge method of treating palm oil mill effluent and empty fruit bunch was jointly developed by Boustead Plantations Bhd and AAR. The novel plant and process is being patented.
  • Hybrid coconut MATAG, a cross between Malayan Yellow Dwarf (MYD)/Malayan Red Dwarf (MRD) and Tagnanan Tall (TAG) coconuts developed by United Plantations Bhd. (UP). The TAG used in the production of MATAG was originally selected by me at Tagnanan Estate in Davao, Philippines and brought back to Kuala Lumpur on behalf of United Plantation Associations Malaysia (UPAM) members with interest in coconut breeding (HRU, UP & Golden Hope). After a year’s quarantine in a GH rubber estate in Bahau, the TAGs were then distributed and planted in the respective members’ estates and then used to produce new hybrids for evaluation. Among the importing members, only UP persevered and came out with the winning MATAG.
  • Hybrid coconut MAWA, a cross between MYD)/MRD and West African Tall (WAT). MAWA was first developed by the French (IRHO) and later evaluated by me in Malaysia and found to be the best hybrid coconut at that time (Ooi & Chew, 1985). In the meantime, WAT was imported and I was involved in the setting up of MYD/MRD seed gardens in Torkington, Chersonese, Bukit Selarong, Bukit Cheraka, Muar River, Bukit Nuri and Pulau Bai estates and subsequently became the biggest producer of MAWA hybrids in 1970s and 1980s in Malaysia.
Personal Details/Awards/Publications