Evolution of Indonesia’s agricultural preferences

Traditionally, Indonesian farmers rely on slash-and-burn farming practices (also known as swidden cultivation) to cultivate rice, fruit trees and other small-scale crops, mainly for subsistence. In this process, farmers toil on a fixed plot of land for 3-5 years before moving to another plot while letting the land rest for 10-20 years (fallowing) to restore their nutrients and productivity.

While there were some profits to be made from selling excess produce, the yield intensity of slash-and-burn farms remained relatively low compared to modern farming methods, due to the need for the fallowing process, which limits the scale and harvesting frequency of cropland.

More recently, farmers have turned to mixed plantations (also known as agroforestry) to obtain greater crop and yield intensities. Agroforestry is the practice of planting multiple types of crops (eg. yam, rubber, cocoa) on the same plot of land to diversify crop production and sources of income. From an ecological standpoint, agroforestry mimics the functional complexity of natural forested areas, preserving the biodiversity, water quality and nutrient cycling processes within pristine forests.

 

Specialisation of cultivation methods

If agroforestry possesses so many benefits, why would farmers pursue other farming methods?

While it is generally believed that agroforestry represents a more sustainable, they are technically more demanding to manage, owing to the different cycles of tending and harvesting a variety of crops. Furthermore, several crops are more profitable than others, encouraging farmers to specialise their land into monocultures to maximise yields of said crops.

These crops are now commonly classified as cash crops, which include rubber, coffee, cocoa and oil palm. Cash crops represent an important aspect of the incomes of many Indonesian farmers and villagers, and the revenue from cash crops is often perceived to be a ticket to a higher quality of life.

The global prices of cash crops have exploded in recent decades relative to rice and other traditional fruit crops. As a result, the economic lure of cash crops provides a strong incentive for poverty-stricken locals to focus their efforts on cultivating plots purely out of cash crops in order to maximise profits.

 Costs of monoculture

While the economic prospects of monocultures seem tempting, putting all your eggs into one’s basket tends to be a bad decision.

The same can be said for monoculture farmers, who experienced a sharp drop in profits during the recent 2008 Global Financial Crisis owing to a drop in commodity prices. This forced farmers to make an uncomfortable switch back to planting their own food crops temporarily, highlighting the vulnerability of monocultural practices to market forces with respect to food and economic security.

Furthermore, the rapid expansion of monoculture plantation has been a major driver to biodiversity loss within Indonesia’s dense forests. Monocultures also deplete the soil more quickly due to the intensified farming cycles, forcing farmers to rely more on fertilisers. Careless fertiliser application often carries a snowball effect, leading to fertiliser runoff into water bodies, water pollution and eutrophication.