Soil Conservation Model Using Intercroping Sengoncoffee Method to Reduce Erosion Yield

Abstract

The increasing demand of sengon wood (paraserianthes falcataria) as an industrial material that has high price in East Java province, especially in Jember district leads to increase deforestation on people forest as well as land use land cover change (LULCC) on agriculture areas. Study on Tanggul watershed which is the one of three biggest watersheds in Jember where LULCC into sengon plantations shown that erosion yields on sengon plantations was dominating by medium to very high erosion hazard level. The identification and conservation method used in this study is RUSLE and the conservation model used is sengon-coffee intercropping. The effeciveness criteria used is erosion yield on the field decreases until low level of erosion hazard level (below 60 tons/hectares/year). The 208 samples of sengon plantations were used to identify erosion yield and the results show that 75.9% of sengon plantations in Tanggul watershed have moderate to very high erosion hazard level with an average erosion yield at 257.49 tons/hectares/year. While simulation of scenario 1st, 2nd and 3 rd intercropping conservation model resulting erosion yield 158.2; 131.8; and 97.7 tons/hectares/year respectively. In this case, 3rd scenario is effective to reduce erosion yield to low level of erosion hazard level by 65% of total plantations. However, other conservation model still needed to be added in the sengon plantation to reduce erosion in low hazard level.