Land-use and Planted Area by Major Crops

59

4.1.2. Land-use and Planted Area by Major Crops

Much of the land is within reach of the river and human settlements spread over most of the lowland peneplain. Small groups with a huntergatherer lifestyle suku dalam, orang rimba or indicated with the derogatory name Kubu which literally means confined continued to make a living in the core forest areas of the interfluves, exchanging forest products for rice with surrounding villages. In the second half of the 19th Century rubber was introduced from Brazil; it thrived in the same soil and climate of Sumatra and rapidly replaced all local, partially domesticated, latex producing trees and vines. In the beginning of the 20 th century, extensively managed rubber agroforests Gouyon et al., 1993 replaced the shifting cultivation systems of local food production and became the dominant land-use in the lowland peneplain of Jambi, as well as neighboring provinces. This attracted labour from Java and elsewhere in Sumatra, especially during the initial boom in rubber after World War I. The main reason for the economic success of rubber at the time was the abundance of cheap labour, the good access, harbors and trade system and the absence of rubber tree diseases. Rubber fitted easily into what was essentially still a long-fallow shifting cultivation system based on upland rice as major food crop. Therefore, the transformation of the forests into agroforests was facilitated by the local rules that assigned property rights where trees had been planted, while shifting cultivation plots without planted trees returned to the community land pool after the cropping years. 60 Characterization of land-use change in Jambi was first carried out by multidisciplinary research teams that took part in the global Alternatives to Slash- and-Burn ASB project, followed by a comprehensive comparison of land-use options Van Noordwijk et al., 1995, 1998; Tomich et al., 1998, 2001. In this overview, Jambi Province is placed within the context of transect for global land-use change research, that was established by a consortium of national and international research organizations. The transect offers a laboratory for understanding the ongoing land-use change. It also offers an opportunity to study agroforests as a land- use system that is distinctive in the degree to which allows for a cohabitation of biodiversity and directly productive trees. The term ‘agroforest’, as defined by de Foresta and Michon 1996 captures the mixed heritage of the ‘wild’ and the ‘domesticated’ aspect of these systems, and highlights an intermediate stage between natural forest and agricultural plantations. Agricultural production in both villages is limited to a few food crops and perennial crops Table 9. Rice was cultivated on rain-fed land as no irrigation had been constructed. Other crops such as cassava, sweet potatoes and corn were also grown for complementing rice as an important subsistence to large number households. Rubber occupied the largest part of agricultural land in both villages. In 2007 area planted with rubber in Senamat and Muara Kuamang villages were 406ha and 445ha respectively. Clearly the economics of these two villages were very much influenced by rubber production activities. 61 Table 9. Planted Crop area by Important Crops and Administrative Locations in Hectares Crops Muara Bungo District Senamat Village Muara Kuamang Village Food crops a 2 982 139 158 Rubber 7 032 406 445 Coconut 396 5 Coffee 48 2 Clove 7 2 Others 45 Total 10 510 547 610 Source: LC1 Village Local Council 2007data Note a : Mainly rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, corn and ground peanuts.

4.2. Demographic Characteristics