Preference of Swiddenners to Rattan, Rubber, and Oil Palm:

Based on the Evidence from Besiq Village, Indonesia’s Province of East Kalimantan

Abstract

Rattan, rubber and oil palm, are produced in the tropics, of which previous researches were focused on the aspects of ecology and economy. This article aims to clarify the preference of swiddenners to such products and to understand their emic livelihood strategy. As a result, it was clarified that villagers selected the rubber production as the source of cash income because of high ‘returns to works’, and sustained the rattan production because of high ‘flexibility’ in terms of daily use and so on. Villagers hesitated to introduce oil palm because of low ‘flexibility’ and ‘autonomy’ caused by oil palm company. On the other hand, villagers have expectation to high ‘return to works’. Therefore villagers accepted the development of oil palm plantation in upper river area where villagers have not practiced swidden yet, but refused around the village areas where the lands are de facto owned by villagers. We can conclude that the people take the ‘mosaic’ livelihood strategy, where they try to combine the advantages and disadvantages of rattan and rubber production, and introduce oil palm plantation partially for avoiding the risks.