Book review: Debojyoti Das. 2018. The Politics of Swidden Farming: Environment and Development in Eastern India

Debojyoti Das. 2018. The Politics of Swidden Farming: Environment and Development in Eastern India. Anthem Press, 252 pages, Price £70 (£18.36 kindle).

The development of coffee cultivation in the traditional agroforestry of mixed-garden (dukuh lembur) to provide social-economic benefit for the Outer Baduy Community, South Banten, Indonesia

Iskandar BS, Iskandar J, Irawan I, Suroso, Pasratasmita R. 2019. The development of coffee cultivation in the traditional agroforestry of mixed-garden (dukuh lembur) to provide social-economic benefit for the Outer Baduy Community, South Banten, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 2958-2969. The Baduy community who resides in the Village of Kanekes, the Sub-district of Leuwidamar, the District of Lebak, South Banten has maintained the Sundanese tradition, particularly in practicing swidden farming (ngahuma). They practice swidden farming based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and belief. According to the Baduy tradition, the commercial plants, including coffee, clove, cacao, teak, and rubber have been prohibited to cultivate in Baduy area. However, because the population has increased rapidly and market economy has intensively penetrated the Baduy area, some commercial plants, including robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner) have been introduced by the outer Baduy community. The objective of this study was to elucidate the traditional practice of the Outer Baduy in cultivating coffee trees that are integrated into the traditional agroforestry of mixed-garden (dukuh lembur or leuweung lembur). This study used qualitative method with some techniques of collecting data, including observation, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and plant survey in the sample plots of the dukuh lembur. The results of the study showed that in 1980-s the robusta coffee plants were introduced by some Outer Baduy people and have since been planted in the dukuh lembur. In the past, because coffee was prohibited to be cultivated in Baduy area, the coffee trees were regularly cut during the purification of the Baduy tradition (pembersihan adat). Nowadays, however, the robusta coffee trees have been properly integrated into the existing dukuh lembur which is based on hybrid knowledge of TEK and scientific Western knowledge. The Outer Baduy coffee farming system has provided subsistence as a well commercial economy that may support the sustainability of the Outer Baduy swidden cultivation that is considered as the cultural identity of the Baduy community.

The local management and sustainability of swidden farming in the Villages of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi, Upper Cisokan Watershed, West Java, Indonesia

Choir IR, Iskandar J, Parikesit, Partasasmita R, Husodo T, Kumoro J, Megantara EN. 2018. The local management andsustainability of swidden farming in the Villages of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi, Upper Cisokan Watershed, West Java, Indonesia.Biodiversitas 19: 1054-1065. In the past, the swidden farming (huma or ladang) system had been predominantly practiced by villagepeople of West Java. Nowadays, however, the huma farming has rarely been practiced by the village people of West Java due to thegovernment policy, and environmental and socioeconomic changes. The local community who reside in the Villages of Bojongsalamand Sukaresmi, the upper stream of Cisokan, West Java, Indonesia, has still practiced both the wet rice field (sawah) and the humafarming in the private land, production forest of a state-owned forest company (Perhutani), and a state-owned electric company (PLN)project land. Recently some areas of the huma land have been used for the project of the Hydroelectric Power Plant of the UpperCisokan Pumped Storage (UCPS). As a result, the sustainability of huma system of the local people of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi hasbeen seriously disturbed. The aims of this study were to elucidate the local management of the huma farming systems that areundertaken by local people of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi Villages, and to analyze the sustainability of the huma farming of localpeople of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi Villages as affected by the UCPS Hydroelectric Power Plant project. The qualitative method wasused, while several techniques of collecting the primary data, namely observation and in-depth interviews with informants were appliedin this study. The results of study showed that the local management of the huma farming has been annually undertaken by the localpeople of Bojongsalam and Sukaresmi, including deciding the location of huma plot, preparing the land (cutting shrubs and burningvegetation biomass), planting rice (ngaseuk) and other annual crops, weeding (ngored) and providing chemical fertilizers (mupuk),controlling pests, harvesting rice (dibuat), and fallowing land. Based on analysis of the emergent properties of the agroecosystem ofhuma farming, it can be predicted that productivity, stability, equitability, and sustainability of the huma farming systems ofBojongsalam and Sukaresmi Villages tend to be low in the near future due to the impact of UCPS Hydroelectric Power Plant project.

A contrast among farmers’ ethnic groups: is this a social polarization tendency?

The aim of the study was to capture the differences between Tolaki, Javanese, and Bugis ethnic in relation to their livelihoods in paddy upland farming activity. The study uses the post-positivism paradigm. In our research setting in Sulawesi drylands ecology, Tolaki local farmer, inhabit most areas of dry land, tend to be sub-subsistence and subsistence-oriented, their planting system is shifting cultivation, or the swidden farming, which was the legacy of their ancestors. Javanese tend to be subsistence and supra-subsistence oriented, while the Bugis farmer is expansive and supra-subsistence oriented. Another important message showed the symptoms of social polarization between the Tolaki and the Bugis as ethnic immigrants. The climax conditions will lead to social conflicts between Tolaki local farmer, Javanese, and Bugis migrants as a result of the emergence of social polarization.