Commercialization of homegardens in an Indonesian village: vegetation composition and functional changes

Abstract

We examined structural and functional changes in the homegardens of Sukapura village, located in the upper Citarum Watershed of Indonesia, in relation to the increasing commercialization of agriculture. Our main purpose was to examine the structure and function of these homegardens during the rapid economic development of this area and the ecological, social, and economic implications of changes. A standard vegetation survey was used to describe the compositional and structural patterns of vegetation in the sampled homegardens, and interviewed 94 randomly selected respondents to help us understand the functions of their homegardens. The results suggest that commercialization in the agricultural sector has changed the structural patterns and functions of these homegardens. Plant diversity in commercialized (intensively managed) homegardens has decreased owing to the use of monocultures. The change from subsistence towards commercial farming has been accompanied by decreased plant diversity, higher risks, higher external inputs, increased instability, and reduced social equitability. The specific needs and preferences of the owners and market pressures were the main factors that triggered the development of intensive agriculture in the study area, leading to increased commercialization of homegardens.

Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia

“…The most studied variable associated with species diversity has been the distance between home gardens and markets. In some regions, the proximity of markets appears to encourage conservation and is correlated with an increase in the number of varieties found in home gardens, while in other areas proximity seems to limit the diversity of species, and only those that have a high commercial value are conserved (Abdoellah et al 2006, Kehlenbeck and Maass 2006, Kabir and Webb 2009, Galluzzi et al 2010, Poot-Pool et al 2015. Another important structural feature is the area of the garden.…”

Agroforestry systems of a Zapotec community in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca, Mexico

“…The study was conducted from January 2016 to May 2018. We choose 30 families at random (Abdoellah et al 2006); in 15 households, only women were interviewed, and in the other 15 households, only men were interviewed.…”

Defining Priority Land Covers that Secure the Livelihoods of Urban and Rural People in Ethiopia: a Case Study Based on Citizens’ Preferences

“…The presence of native trees in agroforestry homegardens contributes to their conservation in the tropics [77][78][79][80][81][82]. Traditional agroforestry also provides connectivity among natural habitats by creating corridors between them, which may support the integrity of natural ecosystems and conserve some area-sensitive floral and faunal species [83].…”

“…Nevertheless, most traditional agroforestry practices in developing countries, including Ethiopia, are threatened by unsustainable land management [85,86]. The deterioration of traditional agroforestry landscapes is driven by population pressure, declining farm size, the global market, and socio-economic changes in society [17,58,70,74,77,87]. The introduction and integration of high-yield crops to increase farm productivity, the improvement of value-added production from food and traditional cash crops, and the creation of opportunities for off-farm employment to support the increasing population of landless farmers are essential [61,88].…”