TY  - BOOK
AU  - Amran, M.K.A.
AU  - Rahman, M.A.A., Misri, M.A. and Maarof, M.H.
TI  - Evaluation of soil filling machine (SOFIL) for rubber nursery polybag filling
PB  - Proceedings of the IRRDB International Rubber Conference 2023, 20-21 February 2023, IRRDB, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp. 208-213.
KW  - Rubber nursery
KW  - Soil filling
KW  - Automation and mechanisation
N2  - The rubber nursery industry in Malaysia is highly dependent on unskilled workers of foreign origin. About 66% of the labour requirement is met using such workers. The tightening of foreigner’s work permits, and imposition of minimum wage rules have put in such pressure on nursery owners that the availability of planting material is badly affected. Introduction of mechanization is attempted in this context to reduce dependency on foreign labour and maintain the profitability of rubber nurseries. The soil filling machine (SOFIL) was developed for that purpose. It helps in preparing the polybags which are used in the production of planting materials. An evaluation of SOFIL was done to assess the achievable task and quality of the polybags filled. The machine could fill a polybag in 8.7 seconds (400 bags/hour) which indicates a 300% increase in productivity over manual filling. The compaction of the filled soil over 4 weeks was 7% and hence, additional manual filling and compaction is recommended to be done prior to planting. Thus, the use of SOFIL can improve productivity and reduce dependency on manual labour
ER  -