Farmers' perspectives on slash-and-burn as a land … · Farmers' perspectives on slash-and-burn as a land clearing method for small-scale rubber producers in Sepunggur, Jambi Province,

Forest Ecologyand

ManagementELSEVIER Forest Ecology and Management 120 (1999) 157-169

Farmers' perspectives on slash-and-burn as a land clearingmethod for small-scale rubber producers in Sepunggur,

Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia

Quirine M. Ketteringsa,*, Titus Tri WibowOb, Meine van NoordwijkC, Eric Penotd

"Environmental Science Graduate Program. Ohio State University. Kottman HaI14./0A. 202./ Coffey Road. Columbus Ohio 432./0. USAhInstitut Pertanian Bogal; Jl Raya Pajajaran. Bogar ./6./43. Indonesia

"International Center for Research in Agroforestry Southeast Asia Regional Program. P.O. Box ./600./. Bogal; IndonesiadCentre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique Pour Ie Developpement, France and ICRAF-SEA.

P.O. Box ./600./. Bogal; Indonesia

Received 6 March 1998; accepted 13 November 1998

Abstract

On September 1O, 1997, Indonesian President Soeharto renewed a ban on the practice of burning forests to clear land. At thatmoment a thick haze caused by land-clearing related fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia, blanketed large parts ofIndonesia. Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand. These fires, aggravated by the El Nino weather patternand described as the worst in Southeast Asian history, renewed a long-term debate on slash-and-burn (S&B) as a method ofland clearing.

Acceptable alternatives to S&B should address both the problems and the benefits of the use of fire. In depth knowledge anda clear diagnosis of the problems that rise with S&B and its alternatives are needed. A social/economic/agronomic survey wastherefore conducted among 37 small-scale rubber producers in Sepunggur, Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Ourobjectives were to: (1) characterize S&B techniques; (2) characterize farmers' perspectives on land clearing methods related toagronomic/economic factors (soil fertility, plant growth, production); and (3) evaluate alternatives to S&B that would beacceptable to individual farmers at present and in the near future. Small rubber producers (average farm size ~5 ha) wereselected because rubber gardens are the major land use type in this area, small producers are the main contributors, and mostof the forest that is presently converted for agricultural use is being planted with rubber seedings.

Farmers generally start slashing in March and burn in the month of August. Burning takes place in two steps: broadcast burnfollowed by pile-and-burn. The five advantages of using fire as mentioned by the farmers were: (1) burning creates space(51 %); (2) ash acts as a fertilizer (23%); (3) burning improves soil structure enabling faster establishment of seedlings (15%);(4) burning reduces weed/tree competition (5%); and (5) burning reduces the occurrence of pests/diseases (3%).

Alternatives to S&B should be economically acceptable. Mulching does not provide an alternative to any of the benefits ofburning. Slash-and-remove-wood addresses only the first advantage and requires a tremendous effort in labor. If forced toaccept either alternative, fartners expect a reduction in income due to difficulties in establishing new rubber gardens,reductions in yield, and an increase in labor costs.

*Corresponding author. Fax: +1-614-292-7432; e-mail: [email protected]

0378-1127/99/$ -see front matter ~ 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.PII: S0378-1127(98)00532-5

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]58 Q.M. Ketterings etal./f()n'st E'cv/,}!.'y 'm,l Mal/,/!.'ement /20 (/999) /57-/69

At present, small quantities of wood with economic value are sold on the local market. Slash-sell-and-burn is an alternativethat could maintain the advantages of using fire while supplying the fanner with extra income and the initiative to remove andnot bum the trees. Even though forest is rapidly being converted to rubber gardens, land cleating will remain in practice torejuvenate the old rubber gardens or to convert them to other land use systems. By selling rubberwood, farmers could covercosts of land clearing and earn enough to cover some of the costs of bUYUlg higher-yielding clones for rubber planting. Thisalternative has benefits similar to using fire and could significantly redu~e pollution problems, but a change in local traderegulations and taxes is required for its successful adoption. (\) 1999 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Slash-and-bum; Shifting cultivation; Fire; Fanner's survey; SociaUcconomic/agronomic survey; Small rubber producers; JambiProvince; Sumatra; Indonesia

i -;c,,"'-c:':,

Introduction

A thick haze, caused by land-clearing forest firesin Kalimantan and Sumatra, blanketed not onlylarge parts of Indonesia but also Malaysia, Singapore,Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand last year. Thefires caused Indonesian President Suharto to renewa ban on the practice of burning forest on September

10,1997.Fire has been a traditional means to clear land for

agricultural production in Indonesia. Shifting cultiva-tors practice fieldTotation by slashing and burning anew plot of land after the existing plot has lost itsfertility. The old plot is followed (abandoned) to allowtree regrowth and the replenishment of soil fertility.Due to increasing population pressure, shifting culti-vation is no longer a sustainable land use in Sumatra.At present, farmers do not shift the locations of theirplots but seek ownership of the remaining forest forconversion to permanent gardens. In addition, thereduction in average farm size forces farmers tocultivate economically valuable crops (cash-crops)such as rubber trees or oil palms. Fire is still widelyused by smallholders to convert the remaining forest torubber gardens and to rejuvenate these gardens. Slash-and-burn (S&B) hence refers to a technique for landclearing and no longer to an agricultural productionsystem (Tomich et al., 1998b; Van Noord-Nijk et al.,1998). On a much larger scale, fire is also used by largecompanies to clear vegetation for establishing oil palmor timber plantations. It is these land clearing relatedfires that caused the tremendous pollution problemsthat started in August of 1997. Fire is used as a tool,but also as a weapon in the social conflicts whichaccompany forest conversion (Tomich et al., 1998a).Estimates of the total area burned range up to 3 M ha

(Yves Laumonier, personal communication).

The ban on the use of fire in 1997 was a renewal of aban that was initially enacted in 1984. It is now clearthat officially banning fire is not the solution. FarmersS&B because alternatives that do not include the useof fire (such as slash-and-much) only address theenvironmental problems associated with S&B anddo not offer any compensation for the benefits asso-ciated with the use of fire. If alternatives imply adecrease in yield, increase in risk of crop failure, and!or increase in labor and capital investment, they willnot likely be adopted. Developing alternatives requiresa basic understanding of the combination of social,economic, agronomic, and environmental factors thatdetermine land clearing management practices at thefarm household level.

A survey was conducted among 37 small rubberproducers in the Sepunggur area (Jambi Province,Sumatra, Indonesia) in order to: (a) characterizeS&B practices as exercised by farmers in the Sepung-gur area; (b) determine reasons behind fanners' man-agement decisions related to establishing new fieldsfor agricultural production; and (c) establish theimportance of S&B as a land-clearing method forrubber producers in this area, now and in the nearfuture. Small rubber producers were selected becauserubber gardens are the major land use in this area,small producers are the main contributors, and most ofthe forest and bush fallow that is presently beingconverted (slashed-and-burned) for agricultural useis being planted with rubber seedlings.

2.

Materials and methods

The S&B-Survey was conducted in the Sepungguradministrative area (1020 14'E, 10 29' S) which islocated 31 km southeast of Muara Bungo, the capital

Q.M. Kelleru.//i,1 el tIl.l/-t,re,l'l/i,,'/,'o/iY tlll,{ MtllltI/ielll./'lll 120 (1999) /.57-/69

Fig. I. Sepunggur (lor 14'E, 1029'S) is located in JambiProvince, Sumatra, Indonesia.

of subdistrict Muara Bungo in Bungo Tebo district,Jambi Province, Sumatra (Fig.. 1). The average rainfallis nearly 3000 mm, with a monthly average rainfall ofaround 300 mm during the months of November toApril and an average rainfall of 130 mm in the driest

Jllonths of June and July (Fig. 2). A characterizatioll ofclimate, vegetation, soils and land use were given byVan Noordwijk et al. (1995) and Van Noordwijk et al.( 1998). The total population of Sepunggur amounts to:\038 people (1539 male, 1499 female) grouped in 632families (PI~fiJ Sepunggur, 1997). In 1995,42% of'thepopulation was younger than 14 years of age (Fig. 3).The Sepunggur administrative unit comprises158.39 km2 (BPS Muara Bungo, 1995). Of this totalarea, 0.2% is used for wet rice production, 1.0% forhome gardens, 30.2% for cash crop gardens (rubber,f l"Uit trees, oil palm etc.), and 41.0% for forests, whilea total of 27.6% is used for other purposes (houses,roads, communal areas, etc.) (BPS Muara Bungo,1995). The 'forest' category includes old jungle rub-ber which is no longer productive. The average farmsize is 5 ha with most households owing and/or oper-ating farms between 2 and 5 ha (Fig. 4). The averagerubber area per farm is 4 ha and l"Ubber provide 60% ofthe total income of the farmers (Kelfoun and Penot,

]997).In total 37 farmer families (6% of all households in

Sepunggur) were interviewed in the months Augustand September, ] 997. All respondents had in commonthe fact that their main occupation was farming andthat they owned at least one new (less than five years of

400

350

300

100

50

0

Fig. 2. Average monthly rainfall (mm) for three stations in the lowland peneplains of Jambi Province: Tanuh Tumbuh, Rantau Panjang, andBangko (Van Noordwijk et al., 1995).

"C';

I('() Q.M. Kellerin.II," el ((I.! ";",,,..1 f:('(,I(/g.y mlt! Mmlll.llemenl 120 (IYY'I) 1.)7-169

70-74

65-69

60-()4

55-59

50-54

45-49 ,.-.,

40-44 ~;..

35-39 'io30-34 <

25-29

20-24

15-19

10-14

5-9

0-4

250 200 150 100 50 0 50

Number of People

100 ISO 200 250

Fig. 3. Population distribution in Sepunggur. Sumatra, Indonesia (Source: BPS Muara Bungo. [995)

50

~~~~~

40

"@-II)0 d)E-~.s'~ 30

IJ..0 d) 0

blj m d)

C .0 20

d) e~ ='d) Z~

~~~~

10

~

0

<0.1 0.1 -0.5 0.6- 1.0 1.1 -1.5 1.6 -2 2.1 -5.0 5.1 -8.0 8.1.10.0 > 10.0

Farm Size in ha/farm

Fig. 4. Farm size distribution in Sepunggur, Sumatra, Indonesia (Source: Protil Sepunggur, 1997).

Q.M. Ketterings et al. / Forest Ecology and Manag('ment 120 (1999) 157-169 161

half of 1997. All price information given here referto the period prior to this, when 1 US$ was worth;::::Rp 2400.

3.

Results

3.1.

Slashing

Most farmers started slashing to open new fields inMarch, towards the end of the wettest part of the year,and continued slashing until the month of August(Fig. 5). Twelve of the 37 farmers that were inter-viewed indicated that they had cleared their mostrecently opened field with a chainsaw. The cost ofrenting the chainsaw (Rp 35000 per day) preventedother farmers from doing likewise. Prior to cutting thebig trees, farmers removed the undergrowth of shrubsand bushes using a machete and beliung (an axe-likehand tool). Cutting one ha of secondary forest under-growth generally took three-to-five days for one per-son. The daily income of a laborer for this type of workwas either Rp 5000 (male) or 3000 per day (female).Hence, cutting I ha of secondary forest in the Sepung-gur area, including chain saw rental and labor to cut theundergrowth costed a farmer ~Rp 60000. The aver-age area cleared amounted to 2 ha per household.

age) rubber garden. The latter criterion was used sodetailed questions could be asked about the landclearing method of the most recently opened field.The survey was conducted during the dry seasonwhich proved exceptionally long and severe; therewas hardly any rainfall between June and October1997.

The survey consisted of questions on: (a) farmcharacterization; (b) farm characterization of the slashphase (including land selection); (c) general charac-terization of the burning phase; (d) characterization ofthe S&B methods of the most recently opened rubbergarden; (e) farmers' perspectives on the importance ofS&B as a land-clearing method; and (f) farmers'perspectives on alternatives to S&B. All interviews,which generally took 2 to 3 h per respondent, wereconducted on an individual basis.

Data were entered and analyzed in WinStayc ver-sion 1.0 (1996), a Windows operated software packagefor data entrance and statistical analyses of socialeconomic and agronomic research developed byCIRAD (Centre Cooperation Internationale enRecherche Agronomique pour Ie Developpement)and (L' Institut Technique des Cereales et desFourages).

The exchange rate of the Indonesian rupiah (Rp)to the US dollar declined dramatically in the second

Fig. 5. Most fanners in the Sepunggur area, Sumatra, Indonesia, start slashing in March and bum fields in August.

162 Q.M. Ketterulgs et al. / rore.\'t Ecology Ilnd Mllllagement 120 (1999) 157-169

Table 1Wood species and local prices when sold/bought by farmers in Sepunggur (n = number of respondents). Prices are expressed as Indonesianrupiah per cubic meter planks. One US dollar equaled ~2400 Indonesian rupiahs in September 1997

Wood specieslocal name

Wood species, scientific name P .1rice per III

(1997)

/I Price perm'(1992)

RubberKulimTembesuMersawaMeranti

KempasJelutungMedangSepat

2298

13352144

121803001501409060

100125'

1280'

150'801

751

401

301

601

601

Hevea brasiliensis, EuphorbiaceaeScorodocarpus bomeensis, OlacaceaeFagraea spp., LoganiaceaeAnisoptera spp., DipterocarpacaeShorea spp., DipterocarpaceaeKoompassia malaccensis, CaesalpiniaceaeDyera costulata, ApocynaceaeMany species from many genera, LouraceaeVatica maingayi, Dipterocarpaceae

3.2. Wood use

The price of most wood species in Sepunggur hasdoubled in the past five years (Table 1). Five respon-dents sold wood from their most recently burned field.Species sold were Hevea brasiliensis, Shorea spp.,Koompassia malaccensis and 'medang' which cancontain species-of 36 genera of the Lauraceae family.Total income from selling wood for these five farmersranged from Rp 200000 to 1050000 per cleared field(Table 2). No more wood was sold either due to a lackof material with economic value (68%), or highinvestment costs (hiring a chainsaw and/or laborand transporting the wood to the market) (30%).The distance to the nearest market (in Muara Bungo)was 24 to 31 km, and the distance to the closest asphaltroad varied between 2 and 9 kill. Seven farmers (19% )indicated that if they lived closer to the main road ormarket, they would be able to sell more wood due to areduction in operating costs and better access to thebuyer. Rubber wood was generally not sold because

the investment costs and taxes outweighed the extra I:income earned (see Suyanto, 1997 for an analyses of tthe restrictions of existing government policies on the:sale of rubberwood). Farmers that did sell rubberwoodcould cover all land clearing and planting costs.

Although pigs form a big threat to the successfulestablishment of a new rubber garden, only 27% of thefarmers built a fence around their fields. The majority(86%) indicated that they built a field house in thenewly opened field and used that location as a watch-tower for pigs, goats and monkeys. At present, farmersthat do not have enough wood to build a fence and stillwould like to do so can use wood from secondaryforest or jungle rubber fields of neighbors with per-mission but without payment when available. Thosethat did pay for building a fence spent on average Rp120000 per ha of fenced land. A small amount ofwood was collected for use as fuel for cooking. Sincewood for household use is not scarce at present, theamount of wood removed from the fields for thispurpose was generally limited to a few cubic meters.

Table 2Farmer's income from selling wood from the most recently cleared field. One US dollar equaled ~2400 Indonesian rupiahs (Rp) in September1997

Original vegetationtype

Age(years)

Areasize (ha)

Wood species sold Total earnedamount (Rp)

Secondary forestSecondary forestSecondary forestJungle rubberJungle rubber

250000200000

1050000300000250000

Koompassia malaccensisShorea spp.Koompassia malaccensis Shorea spp. MedangHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensis

500000000000000000000000000

500000000000000000000[JOO

[JOO

Q.M. Kellerings et af./forest Ecology and Management 120 (/999) /57-/69 163

Fire ReducesProblems with Pests

and Diseases3%

Fire Improves SoilStructure

18%

Fig. 6. Reasons why fire is being used as a land clearing method by Sepunggur farmers, Sumatra, Indonesia.

3.3.

Burning able, circle-shaped charcoal and ash spots over red-dened topsoil. Out of 37 farmers, 19 burned twice(broadcast followed by pile-and-burn), 16 burned onlyonce (broadcast), and one burned three times (twicebroadcast followed by pile-and-burn).

Fields are generally burned in the afternoon whenthe wind is not so strong as to inhibit control but strongenough to let the fire continue on its own. Broadcastburning is a group activity in which the neighboringfarmers participate. Occasionally, the borders of thenewly opened field are cut clean to act as a fire break.No other precautions are usually taken apart fromselecting the right time to burn.

When a fire entered a neighboring rubber gardenand no prior agreement with the neighbors wasobtained, the farmers, who burned the field had topay for the damage (compare with Wibowo et al.,1997). Generally, the payment amounts to Rp 1000 perseedling for one-year old rubber, Rp 2000 per seedlingfor two-year old rubber, topping out of Rp 5000 pertree for five-year or older rubber trees. With a plantingdistance of 3*6 m per ha, the destruction of 1 ha ofone-year old rubber garden would amount to totaldamages of Rp 560000. Rubber trees that were morethan 10 years old generally survived wild fires with adelay of a few months in production.

The main reason for using fire as a land clearingmethod was the fact that fire is a very cheap means toincrease accessibility for planting and management ofthe new garden (Fig. 6). Other advantages were theaddition of wood-ash, an improvement of the soilstructure, a reduction in weed and tree re-growth,and decreased occurrence of pests and diseases.

Slashed fields are generally burned in the monthsof May through September with most fields beingburned in the month of August (Fig. 5). The actualtime of burning depends on the state of dryness ofthe slashed vegetation. Farmers estimated that onemonth was enough to dry cuttings which were lessthan 10 years old. A forest between 10 and 30 yearstook, on average, a minimum of two months todry, whereas, the period of drying could be extendedto three months for older forests. The average periodof drying for the most recently opened fields wasconsiderably longer than what farn1ers considerednecessary, averaging three months for all vegetationtypes.

Burning takes place in two steps: a broadcast bumfollowed by pile-and-burn of the remaining wood. Thesecond step is omitted if, after the broadcast bum, thefield is considered clean enough for planting. When asecond bum is conducted (generally within one weekafter the first bum), farn1ers collect wood in heaps of200-400 kg stacked on a space of 3 to 4 m diameter.This second bum leaves a field with clearly recogniz-

3.4.

Crop selection and planting

All of the most recently opened fields (within thepast five years) were planted with rubber seedlings at

1(,4 Q.M. Kellerulg,r el al./Foresl Ecology and Mal1ll,l(emenl 120 (./999) ./57-./69

100

.'.10~

~~"0"'.c.~

~~~0c=

.2~o~"3u.2:g~03V)

0

Corn Groundnut Cinnamon Cassava Rice Vegetables

Fig. 7. Initial suitability assessment for crop cultivation of recently opened field (within the last five years) by the 37 respondents inSepunggur, Sumatra, Indonesia. All fields were planted with rubber seedlings with or without intercropping with other crops during the first 2-3 years. Initial suitability percentages indicate which I!ercentage of the fields was perceived to be suitable for other crops and which percentagewas considered unsuitable due to either a low soil fertility status, too dry environmental conditions, high labor demand, or problems with pigsand monkeys.

cassava, groundnut" and corn (Fig. 7). Main con-straint to the cultivation of corn, groundnut and cas-sava were problems with pigs and monkeys. Majorconstraint for the cultivation of cinnamom as indicatedby the farmers, was the initial soil fertility. Althoughcinnamon is known to all farmers and has been plantedin recent years, it is not very well suited to the lowlandpeneplain. It is interesting that farmers perceive it tobe an indicator of soil fertility, rather than pooradaptations to the local climate.

Annual crops such as upland rice, corn, and vege-tables were planted within the young rubber trees by70% of all farmers. Cultivating annual crops longerthan 2-3 year was considered uneconomical because,by then, rubber trees cause too much shade for suc-cessful cultivation of annual crops (37%), the soil isnot fertile anymore (26%), there is too much weedcompetition (21 %), or there are too many problemswith pigs and monkeys (16%).

fixed planting distances (3*6 m, 560 trees/ha). Onlyseven farmers planted their fields with clonal rubber.Four of the seven farmers received the clones inpolybags free-of-charge from the Rubber SmallholderAgroforestry Project (SRAP) (a description of theproject can be found in Penot, 1995). Farmers recog-nized that clonal rubber can produce up to three timesmore latex per ha per year. However, the high costs ofplanting material (~Rp 700 per tree at the farmgate)prohibited all but three of the farmers that did notparticipate in the SRAP from planting improved clo-nal rubber seedlings.

Farmers were asked if the plots they opened duringthe past five years directly after slashing and burningwould have been suitable for com (Zea mais), peanut(Arachis hypogea), cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylani-cum), cassava (Manihot esculenta), rice (Oryzasativa), and vegetables. The initial suitability of sixindicator crops described in the order: vegetables, rice,

'2c1a

g90

~E~

~.0I::CO

..!:~Ci5

Q)~CO

~U~:a

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

Q.M. Ketterings et al./Forest Ecology and Management 120 (1999) 157-169 165

Table 3Micro-scale comparison of farmers' perspectives on Oryza sati~'a response to differences in burning intensity: unburned soil, once burned soil(black and white ash), and soil exposed to high temperatures in a second bum (red soil deprived of organic matter).

3.5. Farmers'perceptions of the effects of burning onsoil fertility and plant responses

Fields are rarely homogeneously burned. Slash-and-bum generally leaves a patchy pattern ofunburned litter and biomass, ash, charcoal, blackened(burned) soil and red (combusted) soil. Tables 3 and 4show farmers' perceptions of the soil fertility status ofthese patches (micro-scale) for upland rice and rubber,respectively. For an annual crop like upland rice,almost all respondents indicated that black burnedsoil covered with ash was more fertile and resultedin faster growth and higher production levels as com-pared to unburned soil. For latex production, 84% ofthe farmers expected a delay in time until the firstproduction and 59% expected a yield decline. Themain reason for the delay in production and yieldreduction in non-burned soil as compared to blackburned soil was the fertilizer effect of wood-ash.Completely combusted red soil was considered lessfertile (41 %) and was described as not being able tohold water (37%) in addition to containing less ash(23%). For these reason, several farmers indicated thatit was less desirable to bum a second time (pile-and-

burn methods). Still, 20 respondents (54%) indicatedthat they had burned more than one. Obviously, thebenefits of burning all wood from the field (easierplanting and management of the newly planted trees)outweighed the expected localized decrease in soilfertility and water holding capacity of the soil.

Although farmers recognized these micro-scaledifferences in soil fertility after burning, not a singlefarmer redistributed the wood-ash or planted his cropsspecifically in the burned area. The advantages ofplanting the rubber seedlings at fixed planting dis-tances (faster growth, easier management, less rootcompetition and hence stronger roots resulting in lessproblems with wind) obviously outweighed the advan-tages of the anticipated shorter time until first produc-tion and higher yields when crops were planted inlocations with black soil and ash (as compared tounburned and/or red soil) or when wood-ash wasredistributed.

On a field-scale farmers expected a delay and/ordecline in yield for the most commonly cultivatedcrops if no burning was used (Fig. 8). The expecteddecline was larger for annual crops than for perennialand woody species. Although the main reason for

Table 4Micro-scale comparison of fanners' perspectives on Hevea brasiliensis response to differences in burning intensity: unburned soil, onceburned soil (black and white ash), and soil exposed to high temperatures in a second burn (red soil deprived of organic matter)

-

Q.M. Ketterings et al./Forest Ecology and Management /20 (/999) /57-/69166

>-'"~"0";);;;bO

.5

'g0-X

L1J'"

I0

~'"cQ)

~~

100

c,9U='

"'='~...0::0c~

tU

~~u

Q)u~

'"Q)Q)..

f--~

, \.,.2> ~

Fig. 8. Percentage of farmers expecting a delay and/or reduction in yield of frequently cultivated crops in the Sepunggur area if no burning

takes place.

c:0

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r"\

3.6. Future field selectionburning was to reduce the amount of biomass on thefield allowing easier planting and management of thenew garden, free fertilizer in the form of wood ash wasbelieved to contribute most to the increase in yieldwhen fire was used as land clearing tool (Fig. 9).

Most farmers indicated that if they had a choice theywould select old forest (>30 years) for burning, mainlybecause the soils supporting mature trees were consi-

]00

~'1;;

0

~

Fig. 9. Perceived reasons for an expected increase in crop yield and/or decrease in time until (first) production of frequently grown crops in

Sepunggur if burning takes place.

Q.M. Ketterings et al./Forest Ecology and Management 120 (1999) 157-169 167

:d more fertile. Seven farmers preferred <10 yearssecondary forest since slashing was easier. In addi-, farmers preferred flat fields over sloped fieldsier to tap and keep clean) and dry fields over fieldswere waterlogged for one week to one month (esta-hment of rubber is restricted in a waterlogged field).lespite this clear preference for field selection,ners can no longer select which vegetation toThere has been no community owned and oper-

1 forest since 1990. There is neither a primary:st nor any >30-years old secondary forest and onlymall area of >30-years old jungle rubber left.lunggur is surrounded by governmental transmi-lion areas and cannot extend its area any further.ped land, previously untouched, is now being;hed and burned and converted to rubber gardens.rhose farmers that still own secondary forest or:h fallow (24 farmers) intend to S&B the remaininga, a total of 95.5 ha, within the next five years.

would slash and remove the wood from the field ifS&B was no longer permitted. Five fanners indicatedthat they would bum smaller areas at a time (step-by-step burning) noting that it would never be possible toban the use of household fires. All farmers indicatedthat nol being pennitted to bum would severely andnegatively---affect their economic status.

4. Discussion and conclusions

Future crop selection

I\t present; rubber is the most important crop in the?unggur area. As indicated before, all newly openedIds in the past five years have been planted with:ally obtained rubber seedlings. The farmers thatII own forest and/or bush fallow intend to plant)ber seedlings.Although governmental promotion of oil palm cul-ation is likely to cause the conversion of some of the)ber gardens into oil palm gardens, only two respon-nts in Sepunggur believed that 0:1 palm wouldcome more important than rubber in the next 10ars. Rubber cultivation was introduced into the arearly in the 20th century (Gouyon et al., 1993; Van)ordwijk et al., 1995) and has been part of thermers' lives and existence ever since. Farmers knowIW to cultivate rubber and can remain independent.:tablishing rubber gardens involves little cost,hereas establishing an oil palm garden means a largevestment in the planting material and continued:pendency on a single oil palm factory which actsthe nucleus of a plantation project area.

Fanners mentioned five advantages of S&B as aland clearing method: (1) residual wood ash acts as afertilizer; (2) weed and u'ee competition is reduced dueto the bum; (3) burning creates space to plant andwalk; (4) burning reduces the occurrence of pests anddiseases; and (5) burning improves soil structureenabling faster establishment of seedlings. Burningold stumps is recommended for phytosanitary reasons:to reduce the incidence of white root rot disease inrubber. Mulching not only makes management of thefield more difficult and time consuming, it, in addition,does not provide a positive alternative to any of thebenefits of burning. Slash-and-remove-wood withoutthe option of selling it addresses only the third advan-tage and requires a tremendous effort in labor. Farmerswould not contribute to air pollution with eithelalternative but they would expect a reduction inincome due to difficulties in establishing new rubbergardens (increased occurrence of pests and diseasesespecially white root rot disease), reductions in yield(lower soil fertility status due to absence of wood ash)and/or increases in labor costs (more time needed foJremoving the wood, planting and for weeding). Alincrease in pove11y would be expected if burning waibanned and slash-and-mulch was the only alternativeNeither alternative is likely to be acceptable, and it itherefore not surprising that the 1984 ban on burninlcould not be enforced.

The dry weather and atmospheric conditionbrought on by El Nino aggravated the air poll uti OJproblems in the region in 1997. As it is still not know!what triggers El Nino events, EI Nino yeat.s can not blpredicted ahead of time, but early warning methodare improving. In 1997 the first indications of El Nin'were reported in Indonesia in May, but it is not likel:that this influences farmers' decisions to clear land; fcthe large scale operators, however, the prospects (

8. Alternative.\'

An enforced ban on burning would force 21~punggur farmers to slash-and-mulch. Eight farmers

~ ".,."",.--

68 Q.M. Ketterings et al./Forest Ecology and Managellient 120 (1999) 157-169

fanners to sell (more) wood if regulations and taxeswould permit it and the willingness of farmers to burnin smaller amounts of biomass at a time if that meansfire can still be used. These alternatives reduce airpollution and address the needs, and perceptions of thefarmers and at"e therefore more likely to be acceptableas an alternative to the traditional S&B method of landclearing than a ban on the use of fire in Indonesia.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a Scholarship from theMervin G. Smith International Studies Fund, an OhioState University Graduate School Alumni ResearchAward and by two projects within the InternationalCenter for Research in Agroforestry Southeast AsiaRegional Program: the Smallholder Rubber Agrofor-estry Project (CIRAD/GAPKINDO/ICRAF) and theAlternatives-to-Slash-and-Burn project supported bythe Global Environment Facility with United NationsDevelopment Program sponsorship. We thank Dr.Jerry M. Bigham and Dr. Scott Subler for helpfulcomments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

References

easy clearing in a long dry season may have stimulatedclearing decisions. Where the EI Nino effects on winddirections and inversions imply a much stronger effectof fires on haze than in normal years, dl;cision onburning times and methods might be adjusted in thefuture to reduce the damage (Tomich et al., 1998a).Regulating land clearing and burning practices(restrictions on burning when atmospheric conditionsare unfavorable for quick smoke dispersion), would bean alternative that could prevent further disasters fromhappening. Some farmers supported this alternative bysuggesting step-by-step burning of smaller areas.Regulated burning would require an effective mon-itoring system and enforcement mechanism which ispossible for large plantation operations but not forsmall producers, whose activities can neither be mon-itored nor enforced.

Another possible alternative is a replacement ofS&B by slash-sell-and-burn. Removal of the largestpieces of wood from the field prior to burning canreduce smoke development while still maintaining, toa certain extent, the benefits of fire. By selling wood,farmers can earn enough to cover the costs of landclearing and the purchase of higher-yielding clones forrubber replanting (Suyanto, 1997). Even after allforested land has been converted to rubber plantations(which is expected to happen within the next 10 years)some form of land clearing will still remain necessaryto rejuvenate the rubber gardens or to convert theminto other land uses. Slash-sell-and-burn would thenbe an alternative only when rubber wood can be sold.At present, only two farmers interviewed in this surveyindicated they had sold rubberwood. Promoting thesale of rubberwood and other timber requires a changein local trade regulations and taxes. At present, a highexport levy and local trade regulations severely restrictthe sale of rubberwood and other valuable timberspecies by small producers.

The farmers that were interviewed in this surveylargely depend on latex production for their income(Kelfoun and Penot, 1997). The results of this surveyindicated that alternatives to S&B that do not includethe use of fire are expected to increase the poverty ofsmall rubber farmers in the Sepunggur area. Alter-natives such as slash-and-mulch and slash-and-remove wood can therefore not be considered accep-table and a ban on the use of fire will be impossible toenforce. This survey also showed the potential for

I

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