Abstract
Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) cv. Tarramba was first introduced to eastern Indonesia (East and West Nusa Tenggara Provinces) as part of an ACIAR project in 2001‒2003. Its superior value was recognized immediately as it: was preferred by cattle over local leucaena; was less affected by psyllids; provided better dry season growth; and produced poles suitable for construction. In on-farm Bali bull feeding demonstrations, Tarramba leucaena doubled weight gains compared with traditional practices, enabling the most progressive farmers to win local bull-fattening competitions. Owing to strong demand for seed, the East Nusa Tenggara Assessment Institute for Agriculture Technology, in collaboration with the Provincial Livestock Department, assisted smallholders to establish seed orchards to ensure that professionally produced and packaged Tarramba seed was available for commercial sale. By the end of the ACIAR involvement, approximately 2,000 kg of Tarramba seed had been distributed to farmers, in addition to farmer-to-farmer seed sales. Approximately 800,000 ha of land in East Nusa Tenggara Province is suitable for Tarramba leucaena so the potential for this legume to contribute to beef production in the region is huge. Tarramba is now contributing to forage development in other parts of Indonesia as well as in Timor-Leste.
Highlights
Success with smallholder cattle fattening enterprisesLeucaena leucocephala or ‘Lamtoro’ has been well known for decades in eastern Indonesia
Tarramba was first introduced to eastern Indonesia (East and West Nusa Tenggara Provinces) as part of an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) project in 2001‒2003
By the end of the ACIAR involvement, approximately 2,000 kg of Tarramba seed had been distributed to farmers, in addition to farmer-to-farmer seed sales
Summary
Leucaena leucocephala or ‘Lamtoro’ has been well known for decades in eastern Indonesia. Until the early 2000s, apart from limited usage of what was termed ‘local’ leucaena for feeding cattle in Sumbawa and Timor (Nulik 1998; Piggin and Nulik 2005; Panjaitan et al 2014), there was minimal on-going interest in the species. This resulted from inadequate knowledge by many farmers of the value of the species as fodder for cattle as well as to the availability of relatively large areas of native grassland for free grazing (Kana Hau et al 2014). Many farmers in Indonesia believed that the ‘local’ variety of leucaena was unpalatable to cattle. The arrival of the psyllid insect (Heteropsylla cubana) in the late 1980s devastated existing stands of leucaena and put an end to further plantings
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