A review: The development of double row spacing to improve land productivity and income of rubber smallholders

Abstract

Low prices of rubber has been a serious problem to rubber smallholders in Indonesia. Rubber-based intercropping systems offers a practical solution to this issue and increasing overall productivity of intercrops, for example upland rice and maize. This study reviewed the suitable spatial arrangements in rubber planting to long term impact based intercropping systems. A field experiment was established in a smallholder rubber plantation in Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan with area of 50 ha. Two planting patterns of rubber PB 260 clone were tested: (1) single row planting pattern (SR) by 6 m x 3 m, and (2) double row planting pattern (DR) by 18 m x 2 m x 2.5 m. The experiment showed that girth of rubber trees in the SR system at the first tapping year was slightly larger than in DR system, even though statistically it was not significant. The latex yield per tree of SR and DR systems were similar, however, latex yield per hectare of SR system was higher than DR system due to a higher tree population in SR system. The DR system was technically suitable for long term intercropping, because when rubber tree can reached 8 to 9 years old and light penetration was more than 80% at distance from the rubber row. The total area required for rubber, upland rice and maize grown in monoculture to produce an equivalent of a one hectare of rubber-upland rice-maize intercrop is 1.87. This means the intercropping has an advantage compared to monoculture.

Rubber-Based Agroforestry Systems Associated with Food Crops: A Solution for Sustainable Rubber and Food Production?

“…Countries with the highest number of journal articles on RAS were Indonesia (39), followed by Thailand (25), China (22), Brazil (17) and Sri Lanka (10) (Figure 3). Less than 6 journal articles were published in other countries, representing 24 papers, and 4 studies conducted in several countries.…”

“…Meanwhile, the penetration of light in the DR system is > 80% within 4 m of rubber rows. Thus, the DR system is more suitable for long-term food crop production than conventional RAS (Sahuri et al, 2019;Sahuri et al, 2021).…”

“…Rubber clones with a pine branching type, namely RRIM 600, IRR 112, IRR 118, IRR 220, and IRR 230 are particularly well-adapted to RAS. Their shading is estimated at 60% Sahuri et al, 2021). These clones have a potential latex yield of about 2.5-3 tons per ha per year.…”

“…These clones have a potential latex yield of about 2.5-3 tons per ha per year. These clones can be used for single-row as well as double-row systems with wide spacing (Sahuri et al, 2021(Sahuri et al, , 2019). In the case of RAS with a DR system, more clones should be suitable.…”

Teknologi Dan Analisis Usahatani Kopi Sebagai Tanaman Sela Di Perkebunan Karet

“…Sistem jarak tanam ganda (JG) memberi peluang bagi petani untuk memaksimalkan produktivitas dan efisiensi lahan pada setiap rentang produksi tanaman karet. Luas areal yang dapat digunakan untuk tanaman sela berkisar 50-60% dari total keseluruhan luas lahan kebun karet (Rodrigo et al, 2001;Xianhai et al, 2012;Sahuri et al, 2016b). Sedangkan sistem jarak tanam tunggal (JT) 6 m x 3 m hanya dapat ditanami tanaman sela maksimal 2 tahun (Sahuri & Rosyid, 2015;Sahuri, 2017a).…”