Sustainability cultivation and traditional conservation of taro diversity in Bogor Indonesia

Abstract

Fresh taro and its processed products have been produced in Bogor for decades. It has become a popular commodity from this city and evoked an image of Bogor. The essential component of this issue is the sustainability of taro farming, and farmers are the major preserver who has primary decision-making in agricultural management. It assumes there were unusual agricultural practices that promote the long-term viability of taro cultivation. Farmers’ consideration of taro cultivation and their on-farm activities were observed, and the impacted-on sustainability was studied. We surveyed 30 taro farmers in 8 districts Bogor with a rapid rural appraisal and field observation to validate the obtained data and plant diversity analysis. The result showed that taro has provided more income for farmers, and they prefer an intercropping approach in taro farming. Seed availability was the main consideration of farmers in cultivating this plant consistently for a long time. The seed rotation by seed sharing between farmer’s communities was the mechanism of seed exchange and spread of taro cultivars. There was also found the diversity of taro that divided into three groups similarities and simply to distinguish by the plant stature, color of petioles and corms cross-section.