Sustainability Strategy of Agarwood-Production Trees in Lombok Island using Harvesting Matrix

Abstract

Eaglewood (Gyrinops verstiigee) is one example of a commercially valuable aromatic plant in the form of agarwood. The high selling value of agarwood encourages people to use it. The distribution area of Agarwood-producing trees is found in several regions in Indonesia. One of agarwood producers has been widely exploited in West Nusa Tenggara Province. The problem is the number of population and the quality of agarwood production which is declining due to exploitation carried out continuously and excessively without calculations and improper harvesting techniques. Therefore, a forest management model that cares for sustainability, called a sustainable harvesting model, could be used. This research used harvesting matrix to build this model. This model considers the initial configuration of the forest to be the same as the final configuration of the forest, so that the harvesting could be done continuously without damaging the forest configuration. The location of data collection was conducted in several areas, such as Orong Puncak, Lembah Sari, Orong Selatan, Kekait, Sepakek, East Lombok, and Kerujuk. The data obtained were divided into 5 intervals based on the diameter of the eaglewood tree. The research found that the number of trees that could be harvested on one harvesting period at each interval of trees diameter, i.e. 0 tree in 0-10 cm interval; 388 trees in 10-20 cm interval; 270 trees in 20-30 cm interval; 17 trees in 30-40 cm interval; and 3 trees in 40-50 cm interval. Harvesting matrix could be used to help the government in order to build a strategy for the sustainability of eaglewood trees in Lombok Island.