Indonesian Permaculture:

Factors Shaping Permaculture Farm Systems in Humid Tropical Indonesia

抄録

Permaculture-based farming systems are relatively unexplored in the humid tropics. A few studies have shown that permaculture in such areas has diverse roles and contributions, but these are poorly understood. We hypothesized that the unique social needs of local people or the natural environment in the humid tropics influence how permaculture systems are shaped to operate and have roles that fit under local context. The present study sought to identify and validate these influences toward three different aspects of the permaculture farm: 1) operations, 2) management, and 3) crop diversity. Field surveys were conducted in Indonesia between 2016–2019. A total of six permaculture farms were found across the country, and four farms (one in Yogyakarta and three in Bali) were able to cooperate for the present study. Analysis of quantitative data, such as for determining crop diversity, involved using the Shannon and Simpson diversity indices. We identified that the surveyed permaculture farms’ operations, farm management, and crop diversity were shaped by fundamental permaculture principles, socioeconomic factors such as operational needs and profit-related managerial decisions, and socio-cultural factors such as the beliefs of owners and local societal needs. All permaculture farms shared structural similarities with the Indonesian home garden, ‘pekarangan’ and it is preliminarily assumed that they were based on such design. A combination of these factors shaped Indonesian permaculture systems to operate in multiple ways, with unique farm management practices, and produce diverse types of crops.