Field Handbooks
A comprehensive set of field handbooks for oil palm management
How to order publications
The new handbooks can be ordered as a box set (with complementary eBook) or as individual books as follows:
Order on line at www.tropcropshop.com
Download the price list and order form and send your completed order form to frond17@tropcropconsult.com.
We will then calculate shipping costs and send you an invoice. The books will be dispatched once payment has been received.
About our publications
The Oil Palm Handbooks, written by Ian Rankine and Thomas Fairhurst, were first published in 1998. These handbooks were designed to provide a clear step-by-step guide to the cultivation of oil palm, from sourcing seeds for a nursery to harvesting mature fruit bunches and palm oil processing. This ‘recipe’ style approach has proven to be successful with over 30,000 copies sold internationally, including translations into Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, and Hindi.
Since 1998, when the volumes on Nursery, Immature and Mature were originally published, there have been significant developments in oil palm management. In collaboration with Thomas Fairhurst, Ian Rankine and William Griffiths, Tropical Crop Consultants has produced a completely revised and updated version of the original handbooks and added two new volumes:
Agronomy (focusing on the services required of a Technical Services Department).
General (providing information on human resource management and general management procedures).

Oil Palm Field Handbooks
Key benefits of TCCL Field Handbooks
The new edition will retain the original easy-to-follow ‘recipe’ style approach with respect to the layout and format of the books. Where the old editions of the handbooks were mainly relevant to locations in Southeast Asia, the new 2019 handbooks will incorporate additional experience gained over the past eight years on oil palm cultivation in Africa, South and Central America.
The handbook series will also be available as e-Books (for use on desktop and laptop computers as well as Android and iOS tablets and smartphones). The eBooks will be comprehensively cross-referenced and provide web links to relevant suppliers of specialist equipment and materials.
We have prepared fully up-to-date, easy-to-use set of handbooks that can be used by everyone from the individual smallholder farmers to multinational Oil Palm companies. Not only do we provide the hard-copy waterproof, sprial bound books (as in the old editions), but these editions will also be available as an ebook that can be used on electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops in the field.
All aspects of field management covered – from sourcing seeds to processing palm oil
Easy-to-follow ‘recipe’ style approach to the layout and format of the books
High quality photos depicting ‘real-life’ examples of concepts
Specially designed original graphics to explain and illustrate key concepts
Key calculations presented in tables that show full workings (units, parameters, and formulae)
- Calculation methods are shown in table that show parameters, units and formulae
- The TCCL handbooks use the tried and tested layout used in the first edition.
- Diagrams are used to show
- High quality photos taken in the field, mainly from the author’s collections, are used to illustrate key points in the ext
- Tasks and record keeping requirements are provided for each topic.
- All graphics have been specially prepared for the handbooks.
- Personal protective equipment recommendations are provided for each task.
eBook versions available for desktop and laptop computers as well as Android and iOS tablets and smartphones