Imposing Biopores in Agroforestry as an Alternative Measure of Climate Adaption in Semi-Arid Tropic of Eastern Indonesia

Muhamad Husni Idris ,Mahrup

doi:10.7176/jees/5-10-5

Abstract

A small scale agroforestry model integrated with land and water conservation was scientifically tested to alleviate drought impact in dry land agriculture in North Lombok. Biopores were imposed to the model as an integrated approach in climate change adaptation. Northern part of Lombok is typologically less developed soils with high erosion, undulating, and under semi-arid climate is vulnerable to climate change. Measures of adaptation in such ecosystem should be carried out by (i) implementing best practice in land and water conservation, (ii) applying appropriate cropping system, (iii) considering local climate variability and (iv) using water efficiently as economic goods. These four components were incorporated in a scenario of small scale agroforestry. A participatory action research with three field experiments were conducted at Sukadana village, sub-district of Bayan, North Lombok. Some factors were imposed in the scenario, namely: (1) composted biopores of diameter 10 cm and 20 m depth, on farms and 40 cm depth, underneath of trees pit, (2) alley cropping in agroforestry, (3) characterization of local climate, and (4) water use efficiency. Three groups of farmers were selected by means of a purposive sampling to involve in two consecutive years of field experiments, i.e. 2012 and 2013. Output of research was a model of small scale agroforestry integrating cropping system, land and water conservation, as well as local climate characteristic. The model performed a significant contribution on improving performance and yields of agricultural crops as well as wood trees, mainly white teak ( Gmelina arborea ) growing well on biopores. Biopores underneath trees reduced water and soil particles loss through runoff, as well as increased carbon sequestrated. On farm lands biopores played a significant role in conserving soil moisture, increasing crop water use efficiency and providing essential nutrient for plants. Conserved water could be used by plants in a period of dry spell to avoid drought stress. The imposed biopores in agroforestry could be an adaptation measure to climate variability, and climate change on farm level in semi arid tropic of eastern Indonesia. Keywords: water conservation, biopores, agroforestry and climate variability DOI : 10.7176/JEES/5-10-5

Highlights

There is no simple recipe for success in developing techniques or model to suit each particular situation for climate change adaptation (IPCC 2007)
Agroforestry along with management practices in soil and water conservation are important to succeed in climate change adaptation
This study explored to what extend the imposing biopores would achieve its role as an adaptation measure to climate variability

Summary

Introduction

There is no simple recipe for success in developing techniques or model to suit each particular situation for climate change adaptation (IPCC 2007). Agroforestry is one of possible integrated measures which combine trees, and shrubs with agriculture crops and /or livestock. These combination create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems (Kang 2000; Alao et al 2013), and it has been considered as useful applications in arid and semi-arid regions for soil reclamation rehabilitation (Acharya et al 2014; Kumar 2013 ). In seasonally dry and tropical region at lower latitudes, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increase by 1o to 2oC (Easterling et al 2007; Porter et al 2014). Agroforestry along with management practices in soil and water conservation are important to succeed in climate change adaptation. Agroforestry offers considerable benefits for long term agricultural sustainability with beneficial effects are as follows: (i) it increases diversity of on-farm trees, and crops, (ii) lands covered by trees could buffer the lands against the effects of climate variability, such as long period of drought, and dry spells, (iii) trees take up and store carbon at a faster rate than crops, and (iv) trees growing in dry season provide land coverage and shade for crops growing under trees and improve micro climate (Kohli et al 2008; Murthy et al 2013)

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Conclusion