Promoting agroforestry model in increasing land cover to sustain community livelihood in Paru Village Forest

Abstract

In forestry sector, social forestry gained more concern nowadays and subjected to create new economic growth. Agroforestry is a silviculture practice that is suitable to be applied in areas with social forestry schemes. In this condition, Agroforestry is one of solution to restore degraded forest and other form of landscapes which can cover ecological, economical, and social aspect. This paper aim to gain information of plant survival rate in the establishment of agroforestry plot for a total 8 hectares in Paru Village Forest under Sijunjung Forest Management Unit, West Sumatra by planting 9 tree species (both of forest tree and fruit tree/multipurpose tree species) and 3 seasonal crops species. We applied different planting technique for two types of land status. For protection forest was applied by gap planting technique while for other land status area was applied Intensive Artificial Regeneration (IAR) with planting distance of 8 m x 8 m. Data collection covered for survival rate and initial height measurement. Growth percentage was observed at ages 1, 6 and 12 months after planting, respectively 95.2%; 94.5% and 93.5%. Survival rate is good enough for 12 months after planting, supported by community participation which looks high in maintaining their crops.