Description

Abstract: Agroforestry systems constitute promising livelihood options for rural poor in the uplands and also represent a strategic management approach for degraded land (watershed) that balances both economic and environmental issues. In Indonesia, the SANREM CRSP program “Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production in Southeast Asia Watersheds” aims to improve both technological options and ecological potential of integrated vegetable agroforestry (VAF) to benefit farmer livelihoods. This socioeconomic baseline study is a farm/household assessment focusing on vegetable-producing farm and household budget analyses in the target area. It provides an analytical basis for socioeconomic impact assessment of integrated VAF systems. The socioeconomic data collected comprises demographics, farm characteristics, households’ incomes and expenditures, gender roles, and labor availability.

Nanggung Subdistrict enjoys relatively good access to the potentially lucrative urban centers of Bogor and Jakarta, as well as rich forest and mineral resources, and an ideal climate for agricultural development. Those assets have the potential to support market-based agricultural development through VAF innovation. Farmers in this subdistrict are primarily smallholders on or below the poverty line and with access to less than one hectare of land. They have limited access to technical assistance and poor market linkage, particularly to urban and regional markets. Of particular notes in the findings are the inequality in both land and income distribution and the relatively low percentage of income derived from agricultural production: 9 percent, 22 percent, and 14 percent for the three sample villages. Average farm size is less than 0.2 hectare. This may justify targeting SANREM interventions and training to the subset of farmers who derive at least 25 percent of their income from agriculture.