Indonesia has the highest surfaces planted in rubber trees. Approximately 2 million hectares are made up of agroforestry systems where smallholders tap their trees intensely, with a low productivity.
Rubber is Indonesia’s most important agricultural export commodity, and 75% of national rubber comes from smallholder’s jungle rubber.
Moreover the sustainability of agriculture is becoming a major concern. The main questions concerning "ecological sustainability" are linked to the problem of degraded environment and fragile soils and thus fertility, biodiversity, and the protection of watersheds. Several farming systems offer potential solutions to these problems: agro-forestry, permanent vegetal cover cropping systems, etc. Crop diversification and rapid technical change characterise the evolution of existing farming systems.
The history of these innovations and innovation processes are key elements to analyse and understand, and thus be in a position to make viable recommendations for development.
This survey is part of the SRAP/CFC project lead by CIRAD (Centre International de Recherche et d’Aide au Developpement, France) and ICRAF (InternationalCenter and Research for Agroforestry, Indonesia). It consists in an analysis and a characterisation of farming rubber systems in 6 villages in Kalimantan. The fieldwork was based at Sanggau in the province of West Kalimantan.
© CIRAD, INRA, IRD, IAMM - 2007 - Tous droits réservés - Informations légales - page updated : 09/11/2007