Precision Agriculture : an exploratory time - spatial analysis of the rate of Bud Rot of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.). San Andres, Tumaco productive nucleus. Period: January 2007 - February 2008 - (:unkn) unknown (Fedepalma, 2025)
Agricultura de precisión : análisis exploratorio de evolución espacio-temporal de la incidencia de Pudrición del Cogollo (PC) de la palma de aceite (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.). Núcleo productivo de San Andrés de Tumaco. Período: enero 2007 - febrero 2008
Colombia is the fifth worldwide producer of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) after Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Thailand. The crop has expanded throughout the country, passing from 11.500 Ha in 1970 to more than 157.000 Ha in 2004; unfortunately, in Central and South America this crop is affected by a wide variety of pests and diseases that could threaten its persistence. Diseases such as "bud rot" (BR) represent the highest threat to the oil palm crop, these have considerable economical importance and have even caused the disappearance of several crops in South America. Diseases of the BR type can assume several forms: a lethal one that is predominant in the Amazon region of Ecuador, Brazil and certain zones of Colombia and Surinam; and a non-lethal form, with a high recovery rate, which is mostly found in the Colombian plains. Up to date it is not known if these are manifestations of the same disease, or if they are distinct pathological and physiological phenomena. However, no etiological agent has been found, and therefore what is referred to as "BR" in this research, remains a controversial issue. The BR is widely distributed and spread throughout the western producing region of Colombia, which has almost 36,000 Ha, corresponding mainly to the department of Nariño and almost totally to the municipality of Tumaco, where the agricultural industry of this product supports, at a large extent, the economy of the region. According to Corpoica (2007), oil palm generates 7,000 direct jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs; which translates in over 44,000 people depending on this crop, taking into account that the total population of this municipality is around 160,000 inhabitants. This research aims to illustrate through the time evolution model of the BR and the partial exploratory analysis of the obtained data, the space-time evolution of the bud rot over African oil palm in South-East Colombia, producing nucleus of the municipality of San Andrés de Tumaco (Nariño), with primary and secondary information collected from April 2007 until February 2008. The present work does not seek to provide a direct solution to the problem, none withstanding it pretends to give and approach to the study of the behavior of the disease, so that agronomists, economists and governments involved in decision making, can design preventive, adaptative and/or re-convertive measures to manage the disease.
Colombia, primer productor de aceite de palma en Latinoamérica y quinto en el mundo, enfrenta un problema de gran magnitud como lo es la enfermedad de la Pudrición del Cogollo (PC), cuyos efectos se manifiestan en tres de las cuatro zonas productoras del país con graves consecuencias sociales y económicas. El núcleo productivo más afectado es San Andrés de Tumaco (Zona Occidental palmera), donde la mayor parte del área sembrada (alrededor de 36.000 hectáreas) ha sido atacada a tal punto, que empresas, consorcios, pequeños y medianos palmicultores tuvieron que erradicar parcial o totalmente sus plantaciones. Este documento presenta un análisis exploratorio de la evolución espacio-temporal de la PC de la palma de aceite (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), en Tumaco, entre enero de 2007 y febrero de 2008, que pretende convertirse en una herramienta útil de los productores para la toma de decisiones. La fase 1 de la investigación fue financiada por el Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, apoyado técnicamente por Corpoica por intermedio del Centro de Investigación Tibaitatá y el Centro Experimental El Mira. La fase II fue financiada por Fedepalma - Fondo de Fomento Palmero (FFP). El investigador Rafael E. Hurtado Camacho lideró ambas fases.
Keywords: palma de aceite; elaeis guineensis; agricultura de precisión; pudrición del cogollo; mejoramiento de plantaciones; Tumaco