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Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq), a native plant grown in West Africa, is the world's most productive tropical vegetable oil. In the early 1870s, the British brought the African oil palm to Malaysia as an ornamental plant. A Frenchman, Henri Fauconnier, was responsible for establishing the first oil palm plantation in 1917 at Tennamaram Estate, Selangor. Palm oil production is essential for the Malaysian economy - producing as the second-largest volume of commodities in the world after Indonesia. There are 5.90 million hectares of trees planted in 2019 (Parveez et al., 2020). The independent smallholder (ISH) sector is a small-scale production entity. Hence it is generally seen that this sector is inefficient and unproductive compared to the mass production system of the estate sector. However, the lack of exposure to knowledge in good fertilizer practices is a significant factor influencing the low production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for independent smallholders (ISH) in Malaysia. A total of 1147 respondents were selected to be part of this study and were interviewed on their sociodemographic background, garden characteristics, knowledge, and practice of fertilizer application. Respondents were selected based on random sampling from each state in Malaysia. This study was conducted in 2015-2016 to examine their good fertilizer practices and their demographics. The majority of respondents are men aged 45 to 69 years, with their level of education being in secondary school. The average age of smallholders is 55 years, with average land ownership of 3.54 ha. They invest RM1019.19 on the purchase of fertilizer per hectare per year, with an average price of RM 87.77 at a weight of 50 kg per bag. Research show that the majority of respondents have general knowledge of the good fertilizer's practices. However, application rates of fertilizer by smallholders still lower than recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil plam industry which is developed over the past four decades has been a major contributor to the agricultural sector and the welfare of the state. In an effort to increase the country's export revenue, the productivity of palm oil smallholder needs to be improved. Thereby, the palm oil smallholders need to change their farming practices to a more productive and higher income. TUNAS (Guidance and Advice of Palm Oil) center then given the responsibility to implement best agricultural practices to small farmers. This study seeks to assess the capability of TUNAS technology transfer and it's impact to the productivity of small farmers using survey forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]