Diversification of perennial crops to offset market uncertainties : The case of traditional rubber farming systems in West-Kalimantan, Indonesia

In less that one century Dayak farmers in Indonesia have shifted from traditional hunting and gathering of forest products to slash and burn agriculture with progressive integration of rubber in agroforestry systems called "jungle rubber", to rubber monoculture in the 1980's (based on the use of clonal planting material), and finally to oil palm in the 1990's. Due to different constraints (Imperata cylindica, a weed, and land scarcity), the farming systems used by Javanese transmigrants in official transmigration programs underwent other changes Local farmers have progressively integrated export crops and are now linked with international markets. The recent economic crisis in Indonesia (1997-1999) increased the need for development and technical change. A significant degree of coherence was maintained between technical systems and social systems. The example of the Sintang and Sanggau areas in the province of West Kalimantan (Borneo) allows characterization of the different farming systems, identification of a situational framework and of "pathways for future change". The different strategies are considered here from the perspective of a regional approach to development. Two major challenges characterize the rubber sector: the transformation of existing jungle rubber (2.5 million ha, 85 % of smallholders¿ plantations) into clonal plantations (either in agroforestry or monoculture) and the partial substitution, or complementary activity based on the cultivation of oil palm.. (Résumé d'auteur