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Abstract:
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"Cash crops are developing in the once forested areas of Indonesia in parallel with market
and economic improvements. Perennial crops such as coffee, cocoa, and rubber were first planted in estates
by private or public companies. Local people then integrated these crops into their farming systems, often
through the planting of agroforests, that is, intercropping the new cash crop with upland rice and food crops.
The crop was generally mixed with fruit trees, timber, and other useful plants. A geographic specialization
occurred, driven by biophysical constraints and market opportunities, with expansion of cocoa in Sulawesi,
coffee in Lampung, and natural rubber in eastern Sumatra. However, during the past three decades, these
agroforests have increasingly been converted into more productive monoculture plantations. A common
trajectory can be observed in agricultural landscapes dominated by a perennial cash crop: from ladang to
agroforests, and then to monoculture plantations. This process combines agricultural expansion at the
expense of natural forests and specialization of the land cover at the expense of biodiversity and wildlife
habitats. We determined the main drivers of agricultural expansion and intensification in three regions of
Indonesia based on perception surveys and land use profitability analysis. When the national and
international contexts clearly influence farmers’ decisions, local people appear very responsive to economic
opportunities. They do not hesitate to change their livelihood system if it can increase their income. Their
cultural or sentimental attachment to the forest is not sufficient to prevent forest conversion."
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