Traditional perennial crop-based agroforestry in West Java: the tradeoff between on-farm biodiversity and income

Abstract

Agroforestry systems have been re-evaluated with a renewed scientific interest as appropriate models for achieving sustainable production while maintaining planned and associated biodiversity and agroecosystem functioning. Traditional bamboo-tree gardens in West Java are known to play substantial ecological and socioeconomic roles. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the relationship between income generation and biodiversity by studying 83 bambootree gardens that varied in species composition and degree of commercialization. We conducted a survey of the vegetation and interviewed the owners or managers of each plot. We identified 42 planned and utilized species and 19 associated non-use species. Eight vegetation groups were identified by two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), each of which varied in individual densities of different utilization species types, Simpson's diversity index, management intensities, and potential annual gross income. The group with the highest potential income generation was dominated by clove trees (Syzygium aromaticum); however, this group also had a lower level of diversity and higher levels of management intensity than the other groups, but all of the pairwise groups were not significantly different. About 60% of the villagers used at least some fuelwood as a domestic energy source, and almost all of them collected fuelwood from bamboo-tree gardens regardless of ownership. There were no significant differences in density of potential fuelwood species among the vegetation groups. There were significant positive correlations between income and most management activities. The regression model between gross income and Simpson's diversity index with the best fit was a unimodal curve, which strongly suggests that maximum diversity can be conserved at an intermediate level of income. Nevertheless, this intermediate level of gross income is probably not adequate as the primary source of income for garden owners, although some gardens had the potential to achieve higher income levels with no decline in diversity. We suggest that maximizing individual density and multistratifying canopy layers could improve profitability within perennial crop-based agroforestry systems in West Java.

Local uses of tree species and contribution of mixed tree gardens to livelihoods in Saleman: Village near Manusela National Park, Seram Island, Maluku (Indonesia)

“…Mixed tree gardens thus play a major role in the self-subsistence of farmers' households by supplying fuelwood (81 species), wood for housing construction (58 species), medicines (27 species) or fruit (38 species). These results confirm that complex agroforestry systems make a major contribution to the self-subsistence of rural households, as already identified in other tree-based systems in Indonesia (Christanty et al 1986;Michon et al 1986;Gouyon et al 1993;Brodbeck et al 2003;Okubo et al 2010). …”

“…In southeast Sumatra, the "jungle rubber" is another type of complex agroforestry system with high species diversity (268 plant species in a 1000 m² plot) and a structure similar to secondary forest (Gouyon et al 1993). In West Java, bamboo-tree gardens with high species diversity have been studied by Okubo et al (2010). Michon and de Foresta (1995) reported that villages in the island of Ambon were surrounded by agroforests that combined nutmeg and clove with fruit trees and forest nut trees.…”

“…Finally, tree gardens provide many subsistence products, such as fuelwood, construction materials, fruit, vegetables and medicines. In the bamboo-tree gardens of Sumatra, 8 categories of uses and 42 tree species have been identified, all of which serve farmers' daily needs (Okubo et al 2010). Also in Sumatra, durian gardens provide timber for construction, fruit and vegetables (Michon et al 1986).…”

“…The mixed tree gardens, with 110 useful tree species and 24 useful liana and herbaceous species, can supply fruit, medicine, timber, vegetables or a source of cash income, as is the case for many tree garden systems across Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi (Michon et al 1986;Brodbeck et al 2003;Manurang et al 2004;Okubo et al 2010). The three cash species, Theobroma cacao, Syzygium aromaticum and Myristica fragrans, are the main source of income for Saleman farmers, just as Hevea brasiliensis (Gouyon et al 1993) and Shorea javanica are for farmers in Sumatra.…”

Provisioning ecosystem services income extend comparison between organic and conventional agricultural fields in Puducherry-India

“…The density and diversity of various species were estimated by census survey on accompanied field excursions with agricultural A list of species in each agriculture fields, its purpose of usage and its annual production rate was recorded along with its specific agricultural niches/ land use type. Each species has a different yield cycle, so it is difficult to determine a standard/fixed system cycle (Rasul and Thapa, 2006;Okubo et al, 2010). Particularly of fruit or food tree species and older individuals are commonly replaced with new ones of the same or different species each year.…”