Transmigration settlements in Seberida, Sumatra: Deterioration of farming systems in a rain forest environment

Abstract

Abstract This study of transmigration settlements in Seberida, Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, attempts to analyse why there was a deterioration in the farming systems of transmigrants and what the consequences of this were for the settlers and the local environment. The analysis is of both an agroecological and a socioeconomic nature. The government-planned farming models were of the food crop and the tree crop (with rubber) types. None of the models performed according to expectations. It was found that the majority of the settlers were unable to meet the goal of self-sufficiency in food production. As much as 64% of the transmigration population was found to fall below the poverty line. This again resulted in transmigrants searching for off-farm sources of income, like waged work on neighbouring plantations, collection of forest produce, particularly rattan, and swiddening in the surrounding rain forest. More than 30% of the transmigrants had returned to Java.