Year-Round Cultivation of Sweet Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] through a Combination of Seed and Ratoon Cropping in Indonesian Savanna

We studied the year-round cultivation of sweet sorghum, which is a raw material for the fermentation of monosodium glutamate, in East Java, Indonesia. In this savanna area, each year comprises 2 seasons–dry (April–September) and rainy (October–March). Seed crops were sown almost every month for 1 yr, and each seed cropping was followed by a ratoon cropping after the seed crop harvest. The stem-related traits of plants from different sowing or ratooning dates were studied at around 17 weeks after sowing or ratooning. For both plants derived from seed and ratoon, better crop establishment was observed when cultivation was commenced during the rainy season than during the dry season. Although sowing was undertaken each week in August and September during the most severe dry period, germination rate was very low (or zero) and even the germinated plants died within a short time. In contrast, ratoon cropping was started and plants were grown until harvest. In East Java, it is considered possible to produce sweet sorghum throughout the year, mainly by sowing, but also partially by ratooning during the most severe drought period of the dry season.     

Chicken Faeces Garden Fertilizer: Possible Source of Human Avian Influenza H5N1 Infection

Avian influenza H5N1 infection in humans is typically associated with close contact with infected poultry or other infected avian species. We report on human cases of H5N1 infection in Indonesia where exposure to H5N1‐infected animals could not be established, but where the investigation found chicken faeces contaminated with viable H5N1 virus in the garden fertilizer. Human cases of avian influenza H5N1 warrant extensive investigations to determine likely sources of illness and to minimize risk to others. Authorities should regulate the sale and transportation of chicken faeces as fertilizer from areas where H5N1 outbreaks are reported.     

印度尼西亚阿拉弗拉海浅色黄姑鱼生物学特性初步研究

根据2008年8月-11月印尼阿拉弗拉海单船探捕调查的浅色黄姑鱼生物学数据,对浅色黄姑鱼的生物学特性进行了分析。结果为:性成熟度为Ⅱ~Ⅲ期的占79.83%;摄食等级主要为0级和1级,占66.56%;雌雄性比接近1.4∶1;体长范围为11.5~52.0 cm,优势体长组为17.5~21.5 cm和25.5~33.5 cm,在经纬度上体长分布差异明显;在优势体长组中,15.5~17.5 cm、25.5~32.5 cm优势体长组内的雄性个体出现频率明显高于雌性,而在其他体长组内,雌性占优势。     

Practical critique: Bridging the gap between critical and practice‐oriented REDD+ research communities

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an ambitious global programme oriented towards improving forest carbon management. It aims to attract new sources of ‘green’ capital to fund emissions reductions from avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management. REDD+ is transforming forest conservation, as a diverse array of new stakeholders become involved. Not surprisingly, REDD+ has proved divisive, as critics concern themselves with issues of power, justice, and commodification, while practice‐oriented researchers tackle similar issues from different perspectives, focusing on benefit sharing, safeguards, additionality, measuring and verification. In this paper we explore the different roles of critical and practical research, and argue that there is a need for greater sharing of knowledge across current divides. We draw on our own experiences of conducting a research project on REDD+ in Indonesia that involved critical and practice‐oriented researchers. We argue that critical research disconnected from practical matters can have perverse outcomes for practitioners who are ultimately working towards similar goals; while uncritical practice‐oriented research has the potential to lead to a dilution of core values of environmental justice and conservation. In contrast, forms of practical critique provide ways of researching REDD+ that have practical value while maintaining critical insights.     

Impacts of newly liberalised policies on customary land rights of forest‐dwelling populations: A case study from East Kalimantan,Indonesia

Based on interviews and participant observation conducted in the province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, from 2008 to 2012, this paper examines why the agrarian reforms have failed to secure the land rights of local farmers. Since the fall of the authoritarian government in 1998, Indonesia has seen limited, but growing government recognition of customary land rights of local farmers living in forest areas. I present a case study of two villages, in which the greater discretion on the part of the local community to negotiate with large‐scale oil palm estates has led to the abuse of power by local elites, as well as territorial tensions between local communities. The finding questions the optimistic view that state recognition of customary land rights of communities would automatically lead to the security of landownership of local farmers, and its underlying image of harmonious local communities in which members share coherent interests. The agrarian reform that has centred on communities' rights of control over land and natural resources is problematic. When local communities do not possess capabilities for resolving conflicts in an equitable and transparent manner, third‐party intervention is needed to assist communities to strengthen local land rights.     

A bioeconomic analysis of carbon sequestration in farm forestry: a simulation study of Gliricidia sepium

Trees provide many environmental services including improved soil fertility and soil structure, which often leads to increased productivity and sustainability of the land. Trees also increase the average carbon stocks of land-use systems. Under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, landholders may receive payments for the carbon-sequestration services provided. This study is the first of a series aimed at assessing the appropriateness of tree-based land-use systems as alternatives to continuous cropping and/or Imperata-fallow systems. The performance of a Gliricidia sepium woodlot, grown over 25 years and under various pruning and harvesting regimes, was assessed through modelling. The assessment was based on the system’s ability to sequester and store carbon, maintain land productivity, and be financially profitable for landholders. It was found that the system was profitable under most management regimes tested. Profits were maximised by pruning and harvesting as much biomass as possible when no carbon payments were available, but this strategy decreased system productivity and profitability in the long run. Carbon-sequestration payments encouraged landholders to adopt less intensive practices since net revenues were higher with carbon payments. It was also shown that the carbon pools included in a carbon-trading scheme were sensitive to carbon-measuring costs. For example, if the annual cost of measuring soil carbon was greater than US$1.19 ha⁻¹ it would not be economical to account for this pool in a carbon-sequestration project.     

印度尼西亚结香植物种质资源及沉香人工结香技术与借鉴

由于天然沉香资源的缺乏, 人工结香技术得到了一定的发展, 但仍需要进一步深入研究。文中介绍了印尼结香植物种质资源以及沉香的人工结香技术。印尼结香植物种质资源极其丰富, 其沉香人工接菌诱导结香主要采用镰孢菌属系, 可为我国天然香资源的扩大与生产提供借鉴。     

An ex-post methodology for measuring poor people's participation in social forestry: an example from Java, Indonesia

One of the key goals of social forestry is to involve the poor as project beneficiaries. It is possible to measure the degree of attainment of this goal by collecting socioeconomic data before and after project implementation. This approach cannot be applied at the many sites where ex-ante data were never gathered. This article proposes a methodology for evaluating the degree of inclusion of the poor in social forestry using ex-post data alone. Longitudinal analysis is approximated through the use of ‘slow change’ socioeconomic variables and through logistic regression. The methodology is illustrated with data on the Java Social forestry Program. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Development prospects in Eastern Indonesia: Learning from Oelua's diverse economy

This paper explores the effects of different representations of informal economies in Third World settings. Both the neoclassical and political economy approaches have represented the informal economy as a transient entity, and the non‐capitalist practices it comprises as being remnant economic forms, or as already capitalist. Mainstream development discourse (that reflects the neoliberal paradigm) continues to ignore the value and potential of non‐capitalist practices and to represent them as inconsequential to development outcomes. Meanwhile contemporary livelihood studies across the social sciences have documented the continuing vibrancy of different and hybrid economic forms in the Asia Pacific. In this paper, I use a diverse‐economies approach to explore the complexities of the village economy of Oelua in Rote, in the so‐called lagging region of Eastern Indonesia. Drawing on anti‐essentialist Marxist theory in economic geography, I describe the multiple, locally specific and coexisting practices that comprise Oelua's diverse economy, which include distributions of surplus labour to promote social and economic well‐being. I argue that recognising informal village economies as an important development resource could begin a process of building diverse development trajectories in Eastern Indonesia, complementing mainstream development proposals to attract foreign direct investment, shore up development assistance and source out‐migration.     

印度尼西亚棕榈藤业考察体会

考察认为印度尼西亚的棕榈藤资源丰富,藤条生产潜力大;人工种植施法自然,初植密度低,不施化学肥料,依靠天然淤泥肥地;重视天然资源保护,鼓励人工培育资源;单纯依靠棕榈藤作为发展手段效果不尽如人意;藤产品成为印度尼西亚国家的纪念品之一。