Traditionally, the number of loose fruits detached from the bunch has been used as
the criterion to determine the ripeness of the bunch for harvesting. In the early days
of the industry, five to ten loose fruits around the base of the oil palm tree is the criterion
for bunch harvest. In the late 1980s, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
research appears to suggest that one loose fruit is sufficient to determine the ripeness
of the bunch. This was widely practiced by the industry for a while, but the trend has
now slowly drifted back to the five to ten loose fruit criterion.