Promoting agroforestry for increasing land cover and sustaining livelihood through Social Forestry schemes in Indonesia

Abstract

Proper management of Indonesian tropical forests is addressed to realize the community's welfare and forest sustainability. Agroforestry is a smart solution to provide balance in ecological, economic, and social benefits. This paper is aimed to provide plant growth and survival rate data in the establishment of agroforestry demonstration plots in three different schemes of Social Forestry in Indonesia, namely Paru Village Forest (PVF) in West Sumatra, Cempaka Forestry Partnership in Lampung, and Tuar Tana Community Forestry (TCF) in East Nusa Tenggara. Twenty-six plant species, both forest trees and seasonal crops, were planted at all sites by applying agroforestry models. All planted species were planted based on site-specific suitability regarding different climate regime and their social pReferences. The survival rate and plant height were observed at 1, 6, 12, and 18 months after planting (MAP). The best result of plants' survival rate was found in PVF at 12 and 18 MAP, respectively 93.5% and 78.9% supported by the high community participation in tending their crops. Plants' survival rate in TCF was relatively low, amounted 43.2%, due to the drought affecting the plant growth in this semi-arid region, even though the forest farmers have a high effort in tending their crops.