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

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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 bamboo-tree 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.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) #16405037 (FY 2004–6), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) #21380023 (FY 2009–11) and the Core University Program in Applied Biosciences (FY 1998–2007). We thank Pak Aceng and other villagers for their kindness during our field research and Mulianto Adri, Adinegara, Takahiro Kohsaki, and many other students from Padjadjaran University and the University of Tokyo for their assistance in collecting data. We also thank Erri N. Megantara, Director of the Institute of Ecology, Padjadjaran University, and other university staff for supporting collaborative research with the University of Tokyo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab of Landscape Ecology and Planning, Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Satoru Okubo & Kazuhiko Takeuchi

  2. Institute of Ecology, Padjadjaran University, Jl. Sekeloa Selatan 1, Bandung, 40132, West Java, Indonesia

    Parikesit, Dendi Muhamad & Oekan S. Abdoellah

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences for Sustainability, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Ueda 3-18-8, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan

    Koji Harashina

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  1. Satoru Okubo
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  2. Parikesit
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  3. Koji Harashina
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  4. Dendi Muhamad
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  5. Oekan S. Abdoellah
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  6. Kazuhiko Takeuchi
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Correspondence to Satoru Okubo.

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Okubo, S., Parikesit, Harashina, K. et al. Traditional perennial crop-based agroforestry in West Java: the tradeoff between on-farm biodiversity and income. Agroforest Syst 80, 17–31 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-010-9341-8

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