Wonogiri, Central Java and Ponorogo, East Java are neighboring districts (kapubatens). Forty-two percent of their land area is covered with secondary forests of naturalized exotic tree species that are common components of governmental land rehabilitation programs. The seed suppliers operating in the Wonogiri-Ponorogo area represent only 9% of the suppliers in Indonesia yet they possess 90-80% of the national tree seed capacity. Wonogiri-Ponorogo suppliers procure and sell 1510 tons of seed annually. Twenty-four percent of this total (362 tons) is exchange between suppliers; 1148 tons are sold to customers across Indonesia; a small fraction is exported. Seventy-two percent of the seed sold(826 tons) is collected in the Wonogiri-Ponorogo area. The remainder originates in Sumatra, Madura and Nusa Tenggara. In Wonogiri-Ponorogo tree seed is collected by farmers on contract for seed assemblers or seed companies. Assemblers link farmer collectors with seed companies and middlemen, who sell seed to customers. Government agencies purchase 75% of the seed. Cover crop species, Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis and Leucaena leucocephala account for the 85% of the total seed sold. In general seed collection practices are poor, indicating a negative impact on seed quality. Fortunately, the sheer volume of seed collected in Wonogiri-Ponorogo assures that it comes from a large number of unrelated trees over widely dispersed locations. Simple seed collection guidelines would help farmer improve their seed collection practices and the genetic quality of seed collected. A commitment to seed quality by all agents and customers is required to make such guidelines functional and acceptable. Seed procurement and diffusion generate significant income for all seed agents. As the dominant agents who facilitate most of the activities and inputs required to move seed through the pathway from forest to customers, companies benefit the most. Based on the reported quantities of seed sold, companies’ and middlemen’s annual revenues are Rp 765 million to Rp 22 million (US $90,000 to $2600). These estimates must be adjusted by subtracting fixed costs, depreciation, extra-legal fees and non- payments (which occurs frequently), to obtain an estimate profits. Accurate records or estimates of these costs are not available. Farmers are the most numerous agent, an estimated 22,500 farmers are involved in seed collection activities annually. They earn incomes of Rp 795,000 to Rp 275,000 from seed collection annually, 66-33% of their 3-month dry-season income. Farmer families living near seed companies earn additional income by processing seed
Tag: acacia
Agroforestry: a decade of development (ICRAF’s tenth anniversary 1977-1987)
Throughout the world, at one period or another in its history, it has been the practice to cultivate tree species and agricultural crops in intimate combination. The examples are numerous. It was the general custom in Europe, at least until the Middle Ages, to clear-fell derelict forest, burn the slash, cultivate food crops for varying periods on the cleared areas, and plant or sow tree species before, along with, or after the sowing of the agricultural crop. This “farming system” is, of course, no longer popular in Europe. But it was still widely followed in Finland up to the end of the last century, and was being practised in a few areas in Germany as late as the 1920s (King, 1968). In tropical America, many societies have traditionally simulated forest conditions in their farms in order to obtain the beneficial effects of forest structures. Farmers in Central America, for example, have long imitated the structure and species diversity of tropical forests by planting a variety of crops with different growth habits. Plots of no more than one-tenth of a hectare contained, on average, two dozen different species of plants each with a different form, together corresponding to the layered configuration of mixed tropical forests: coconut or papaya with a lower layer of bananas or citrus, a shrub layer of coffee or cacao, tall and low annuals such as maize, and finally a spreading ground cover of plants such as squash (Wilken, 1977).
Biomass production of tree fallows and their residual effect on maize in Zimbabwe
The rotation of maize (Zea mays) with fast-growing, N2-fixing trees (improved fallows) can increase soil fertility and crop yields on N-deficient soils. There is little predictive understanding on the magnitude and duration of residual effects of improved fallows on maize yield. Our objectives were to determine the effect of fallow species and duration on biomass production and to relate biomass produced during the fallow to residual effects on maize. The study was conducted on an N-deficient, sandy loam (Alfisol) under unimodal rainfall conditions in Zimbabwe. Three fallow species — Acacia angustissima, pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), and Sesbania sesban — of one-, two-, and three-year duration were followed by three seasons of maize. Pigeonpea and acacia produced more fallow biomass than sesbania. The regrowth of acacia during post-fallow maize cropping provided an annual input of biomass to maize. Grain yields for the first unfertilized maize crop after the fallows were higher following sesbania (mean = 4.2 Mg ha1) than acacia (mean = 2.6 Mg ha1). The increased yield of the first maize crop following sesbania was directly related to leaf biomass of sesbania at the end of the fallow. Nitrogen fertilizer did not increase yield of the first maize crop following one- and two-year sesbania fallows, but it increased yield following acacia fallows. Nitrogen fertilizer supplementation was not required for the first maize crop after sesbania, which produced high-quality biomass. For acacia, which produced low-quality biomass and regrew after cutting, N fertilizer increased yield of the first post-fallow maize crop, but it had little benefit on yield of the third post-fallow maize crop.