Ethnobotanical Aspects of Mentawai Traditional Agricultural System (Pumonean) and Its Implications for the Conservation of Local Germplasm in Siberut, Mentawai, Indonesia

Abstract

Mentawai people have a unique agricultural tradition. The traditional agricultural system (mone) is adaptive, using the plants that are suitable for the landscape. Land clearing is carefully done without destroying the entire forest. We conducted ethnobotany studies to explore the composition and the structure of the plants used in the traditional plantation (Pumonean) as well as their values for the Mentawai people in the Siberut island. We surveyed the agricultural system employed by Mentawai people and conducted vegetation assessment in the study sites. The data on the plant species and land usages were gathered from interviews with key informants in the areas. We analyzed the data using Local User's Value Index (LUVI). The plants were collected to aid with species identification and were stored at the Andalas University Herbarium (ANDA), Padang. Throughout the study, we recorded 64 species in 27 families. Euphorbiaceae was the family with the highest species diversity. Sagu (Metroxylon sago) was the species with the highest LUVI. We categorized the land usage for the traditional plantation into four categories, consisting of wetland, the edge of wetland, mixed plantations (mone), and forests (leleu). The mixed plantation was the category with the highest LUVI. Beside the traditional agricultural system, the Mentawai people also developed a more modern agricultural system. For the traditional system, Durio zibethinus was the species with the highest importance indices, whereas for the more modern system Theobroma cacao was the species with the highest importance indices.

Plant species composition and diversity in traditional agroforestry landscapes on Siberut Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia

“…It was found that the Mone land had a wide tree canopy and functioned more as a conservation area, whereas the Tinugglu land was used for short-lived agriculture. Research by Nurainas et al (2020) in several Siberut forest locations also showed that the highest LUVI was also found in the Metroxylon sago, Durio zibethinus and Arthocarpus integer types. Furthermore, Nopiansyah et al (2016), findings indicate that the traditional communities on Siberut Island continue to rely on forest resources, even though their utilization practices have evolved in recent times, incorporating new technologies.…”

Zingiber album Nurainas among Zingiberaceae Family: A Review in the Traditional Uses

“…We found 51 species from 14 genera in the Zingiberaceaae family have been utilized by the people in West Sumatra in six categories of utilization [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. The flow chart shows that the most common utilization of Zingiberaceae in West Sumatra is as a medicine, followed by utilization as a spice, culture, fruit, vegetable, and natural dye (Fig.…”

Ethnobotanical study of Zingiber album Nurainas, an endemic ginger from Sumatra

“…We found that the people who live in West Sumatra make use of 51 different species from 14 different genera that are a part of the Zingiberaceae family [23,[26][27][28][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. These uses fall into six different categories.…”