Agroforestry contributions to smallholder farmer food security in Indonesia

Abstract

Agroforestry has potential for strengthening the climate change resilience of smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, the food security challenges faced by smallholders will likely worsen due to climate change impacts. Agroforestry provides and option for strengthening climate change resilience, while contributing to food access, income, health, and environmental stability. To evaluate the evidence for such benefits, this systematic review identifies 22 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2019 which assess agroforestry’s contributions to food security in Indonesia, mostly in Java or Sumatra. Analysis of the studies indicate that traditional and commercial agroforestry contribute to food security in diverse ways: for example, traditional homegardens offer 20% more dietary diversity than commercial counterparts, while commercial homegardens may contribute up to five times more income. Agri-silviculture contributions fall along a timber versus non-timber forest product continuum that displays a similar tradeoff between diversity and income. Those systems with a commercial focus may receive 54% of their income from a single commodity crop such as coffee, while traditional systems allow greater access to plants with medicinal benefits. Nearly all agroforestry systems offered indirect benefits for food security, such as allowing more off-farm work than traditional agriculture and contributing to environmental stability: users of agroforestry were found by one study to collect 83% less fuelwood from natural forests. One study highlighted that agroforestry options have up to 98% greater net present value (for periods over 30 years) compared to slash and burn style agriculture. However, very few studies of Indonesian agroforestry focused explicitly on financial analysis and food security, indicating the need for further research. Given the similar situations faced by many Southeast Asia countries, our findings contribute to emerging trends throughout the region regarding the relationship between agroforestry and food security.

Indigenous Family Labor in Agroforestry Systems in the Context of Global Transformations: The Case of the Inga and Camëntsá Communities in Putumayo, Colombia

“…If one product is not harvested, there is an alternative one [44]. As agroforestry entails more than one component, it offers more goods and environmental services than mono-production systems [45].…”

Traditional Subsistence Farming of Smallholder Agroforestry Systems in Indonesia: A Review

“…The practice of agroforestry in private forests plays a pivotal role in cultivating trees outside the state forest areas, providing a farmer safety net in terms of economic value through production functions [40], and serving as the last bastion of biodiversity conservation for flora and fauna amid the accelerated deforestation rate in natural forests [41][42][43][44]. Agroforestry has contributed to strengthening smallholder farmers' resilience to climate change in Indonesia by offering 20% more food variety in the traditional pattern and a fivefold income increase in the commercial pattern [22]. Agroforestry systems also provide environmental service benefits, such as increasing soil organic content; improving soil health through nutrient repair and fertility processes; improving soil biological dynamics; improving soil carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation; and improving water quality, climate change mitigation, and adaptation [39,45,46].…”

“…With agroforestry, the science of silviculture is expected to encounter issues beyond timber production [64]. Moreover, silviculture treatment on timber-based versus nontimber-based forest products provides a different result for land productivity [22]. Traditional agroforestry practices are usually subsistence and are conducted in a small area of land with minimal silviculture treatments [65,66].…”

“…In the case of food security, smallholder farming with commercial agroforestry systems tends to focus on income production, whereas traditional systems concentrate on the benefits of nutritional diversity. Agroforestry benefits the environment and promotes stability [22]. The mixed garden, the most popular agroforestry pattern in Indonesia, also has the highest carbon stock compared to other tree-crops patterns [23].…”

A Review on Sustainability of Watershed Management in Indonesia

“…Increasing the forest cover will have an impact on improving the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil to become more stable against erosion and degradation [133][134][135][136][137]. Vegetative rehabilitation activities have also significantly increased people's income and welfare [138][139][140] and support sustainable land management systems [127,141].…”