Ethnobotany of suweg, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius: Utilization and cultivation in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract. Mutaqin AZ, Kurniadie D, Iskandar J, Nurzaman M, Partasasmita R. 2020. Ethnobotany of suweg, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius: Utilization and cultivation in West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 1635-1644. Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson, locally known as suweg, is a bulbous plant that has many benefits, but has not been cultivated as intensively as other species from the Araceae family. Suweg grows scattered in various rural areas in Indonesia, including West Java. Some suweg plants are cultivated by villagers, while the others grow wildly in forested areas. Suweg is commonly cultivated in several types of agroecosystems, such as home gardens (pekarangan) and gardens (kebun), using traditional ecological knowledge inherited from generation to generation. This study aims to investigate the utilization and cultivation of suweg by a community in Cisoka Village, Cikijing Sub-district, Majalengka District, West Java. This study used a qualitative method using ethnobotany approach, i.e. an emic analysis of the perception and local knowledge of community on suweg, and then validated using scientific or ethical knowledge. Field data collection was done by observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants chosen purposively considered having expertise and knowledge about suweg. The results showed that suweg has long been cultivated or growing naturally in Cisoka Village. The species has been culturally utilized by the rural community as additional food sources of carbohydrates, fish feed, and traditional ceremonies. However, the use of traditional ceremonies has been lost its importance. Suweg is generally used by the elderly, with certain groups, such as rural fish farmers and some younger age groups or children who like suweg. The rural people of Cisoka Village also mentioned that suweg was not cultivated as intensively as other. This is partly because it is considered not to have a high economic value as other agricultural commodities.

Community knowledge of Amorphophallus muelleri Blume: Cultivation and utilization in Central Java, Indonesia

“…Suweg is consumed with very simple processing, namely by boiling it. The same thing is done by the people of West Java, suweg is used as a snack and for religious rituals (Mutaqin et al 2020).…”

“…Several Indonesian scholars have written public knowledge about Amorphophallus plants. Mutaqin et al (2020) writes about the use of suweg (A. paeoniifolius) in the Majalengka community of West Java. Similar research was conducted by Hidayat (2019) on suweg that grew under teak plantations.…”

Sustaining farmers livelihoods through community forestry in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

“…This illustrates that the food insecurity that occurs has a strong relationship with the rate of deforestation, and requires a strong strategy to synergize forest conservation efforts and increase food security (Paudel 2018;Andrieu et al 2019), including the development of functional food plant species in an environmentally friendly way (Bahar et al 2020). Furthermore, forest protection will have implications for the sustainability of ecosystem services that support food productivity (Vira et al 2015;Sunderland et al 2019;Mutaqin et al 2020) and will encourage the many benefits forests provide to humans and the environment.…”

Regenerasi Tunas Suweg (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson) pada Berbagai Konsentrasi BAP dan NAA dengan Kondisi Penyimpanan Terang dan Gelap

“…Banyaknya potensi suweg ini memberikan peluang untuk masuk ke dunia industri, tetapi untuk budidaya tanaman ini masih terkendala dalam memperoleh bibit. Sejauh ini, budidaya yang dilakukan oleh sebagian kecil masyarakat di Jawa Barat (Mutaqin et al, 2020;Santosa et al, 2010), Jawa Tengah dan Jawa Timur (Isnaini et al, 2010) hanya dalam jumlah terbatas untuk keperluan sendiri. Umbi suweg diolah menjadi makanan dengan direbus, dibuat kolak, atau dibuat tepung untuk selanjutnya diolah menjadi aneka kue dan makanan di Kabupaten Brebes (Hasanah et al, 2014).…”