Ethnoecology of Zanthoxylum acanthopodium by local communities around Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract. Nurlaeni Y, Iskandar J, Junaedi DI. 2021. Ethnoecology of Zanthoxylum acanthopodium by local communities around Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 1806-1818. Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC., locally known as andaliman, is a typical spice of traditional cuisine of communities living around Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Despite the extensive uses, the ethnoecological study on this plant is relatively scarce. This study aims to conduct ethnoecological studies of the management and cultivation of andaliman plants based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge of local communities of Salaon Dolok Village, a village nearby Lake Toba which has close relationship and intensively cultivated/utilized andaliman in their daily life. This study applied qualitative methods using the combination of direct observation and interviews with 46 selected respondents using snowball sampling. The results of this study showed that the cultivation of andaliman in Salaon Dolok Village was carried out using traditional ways with simple farming practices. These traditional farming models relied on manual farming practices in all farming aspects. The community has local knowledge related to the management of reliable agricultural systems from generation to generation. Andaliman cultivation in Salaon Dolok Village does not need maintenance costs for fertilizers and pesticides. In general, andaliman planting is mostly done in the forest. In general, the people of this village only recognize two kinds of andaliman cultivars, namely Andaliman 'Simanuk' and Andaliman 'Sihorbo'. The planting is usually carried out during the rainy season to reduce the mortality rate of the planted seedlings. The activity of seedling preparation is carried out in two simple ways. First, most farmers were collected andaliman seeds that grow wild around the existing andaliman plants. The second method is by collecting the seedling that grows from the burning land with some remains of old andaliman plants collected at the edge of the land. Sustainable agriculture should minimize the external input from outside of the agro-ecosystem. Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA) emphasizes the efficient use of existing production factors to create sustainable agriculture, including for andaliman agriculture system.

Farm business analysis and marketing channels for Andaliman agroforestry in Humbang Hasundutan District

“…This species has special characteristics, differentiating it from any other plants in the Zanthoxylum genus that are grown in other areas [1,4,7,15]. This herb is also potential and prominent to be developed as medicine since it is known to be very high in the properties of antioxidant, antiinflammation, antipyretic, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antidiabetic, anticonvulsant, antihepatotoxicity, antihypertensive, antiacne, antiaging, immunostimulant, and appetite-stimulant [1][2][3][5][6][7][8][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Traditional medicinal potions are very entrenched in Indonesians' culture and entice consumers' interest [2,6,7,10].…”

“…Andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC), also known as Batak Pepper, is one of the so many native herbs and spices that are grown in the tropical rainforest area of Indonesia [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. This plant is an endemic plant from North Sumatera Province, mainly grown in the vicinity forest adjacent to Lake Toba [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. This species has special characteristics, differentiating it from any other plants in the Zanthoxylum genus that are grown in other areas [1,4,7,15].…”

“…This plant is an endemic plant from North Sumatera Province, mainly grown in the vicinity forest adjacent to Lake Toba [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. This species has special characteristics, differentiating it from any other plants in the Zanthoxylum genus that are grown in other areas [1,4,7,15]. This herb is also potential and prominent to be developed as medicine since it is known to be very high in the properties of antioxidant, antiinflammation, antipyretic, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antidiabetic, anticonvulsant, antihepatotoxicity, antihypertensive, antiacne, antiaging, immunostimulant, and appetite-stimulant [1][2][3][5][6][7][8][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Traditionally, people use it to cure skin, gastrointestinal, oral, and respiratory tract or lung problems [2,3,6,7,12,[15][16][17]. Moreover, since its taste and scent are very unique and distinctive so that it can be easily distinguished from any other spices, its fruits and seeds are usually used as one of the Batak traditional cuisines' ingredients [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. It is also widely used as a food preservative and developed into various products such as cosmetics or skincare, fragrances or aromatic compounds, and household cleaners [4,[11][12][13][14]16].…”

“…It is also widely used as a food preservative and developed into various products such as cosmetics or skincare, fragrances or aromatic compounds, and household cleaners [4,[11][12][13][14]16]. Despite its benefit, people only know a little about it, even many people who live in North Sumatera are still unfamiliar with this T C Pane 1 *, B T Rumaijuk 2 , M Jufri 1 and M Khaliqi plant since it is not cultivated and marketed extensively [1,8,13]. Its utilization is almost exclusive to Batak communities' traditions [1,8,14,20].…”