| Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata Merr) is an indigenous plant in Malaysia, which has a great potential to be expanded into large scale plantation crop for the production of sugar and other sugar-based products. Until today, harvesting of sugar palm tree is a laborious operation, without application of any mechanization systems. It takes the largest demand for labor and time spent in the sugar palm cultivation. The main objective of the study was to investigate human energy expenditure in harvesting sugar palm in Malaysia. Workers’ workload and productivity in harvesting sugar palm were also analyzed. Relevant physical properties of sugar palm tree, heart rate, and human energy expenditure and worker productivity as well as in harvesting sugar palm were recorded... |
