0-1 yr

1-5yr

5-10yr

10-20yr

Soil desalination through various mechanical and chemical treatment

Crop selection program: choose food crops that are salt tolerant, fast growing but not aggressive; plant materials for the selected species should also be conveniently available from the nearby regions and would fit into the local food culture

As soil alkalinity (salinity) is gradually balanced by the accumulating organic matter, traditionally preferred cash and commercial crops can be re-introduced back to farmlands again

As the farming economy gradually recovers from increasing cash crop and soil productivity, farming communities could reinvest into their business and improve practices and infrastructure. They would also invest into rubber or oil palm plantation, which is currently the most lucrative business

+ Family Land :

Family land is the immediate environment where a family cultivate food for survival. Much like home garden, a family has the autonomy to decide the type(s) of crop that would grow there. At village level, there is no specific laws regulating the size of plot each family should own as long as the boundary is agreed by neighboring villagers. Size of these landforms varies according to topography, site accessibility, labor availability and one's status in the village (i.e. head of the village will get the bigger and better farmland). If there is surplus of crops, villagers could sell them in markets for cash. Socially, it captures the most indigenous farming practice and reveals a family tradition in which everybody farm for their family's survival. The system is losing its importance and popularity as people migrate to more profitable plantation business.

+ Village Communal Land :

The land is owned by landowner(s) who are likely to rent the land to local villagers. In some cases, skilled farmers would be hired to farm the land for the landowners as well. While these land parcels have higher productivity, they are being abandoned as nutrients depleted from cultivation. There is little management after the land is abandoned, and secondary forest would establish before the land is slashed and burnt again for cultivation. Agricultural operation at this scale usually provides jobs to local villagers and create regional trades.

+ Smallholder :

Smallholder land is a more programmed land that mostly cultivates for cash crops. Land mass usually range from 2-5 hectares, and is gaining its popularity in Indonesia because of its profitability as compared to traditional home or village farming. There is less variety of crops, but perennial monoculture dominates as it requires less manuel labor as the area of land increases. How likely can smallholder lands be combined into plantation operations?

+ Plantations (rubber or oil palm) :

Plantations can be run by both domestic and international companies whose interest is laid on one or two specific crops (i.e. coffee plantation run by Starbucks Corp). Size of plantation usually range from over 100 hectares and more. Monoculture in tropical settings, where soil is rarely rich in nutrients, imply high damaging potentials and ecological danger of certain species. More sustainable practices have been adopted, but education of proper operation is still needed.

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