Abstract
Lampung Province lies at the southern end of Sumatra, nearest to Java. Its inhabitants are said to originate from the Belalau area, about 30km southeast of Lake Ranau in Lampung Province. They originally cultivated upland rice mixed with other crops in swiddens for subsistence.
Lampung can be classified topographically into four areas: mountain slopes, hills, peneplain, and coastal swamp.
Rice cultivation in the mountain slopes and hills consisted of upland rice in swiddens and lowland rice in small swamps called rawa in Indonesian. These cultural systems were practiced by Lampung people. Irrigated lowland rice, on the other hand, was introduced in immigrants mainly from Java and was cultivated in the hill and peneplain areas. It has been the object of technical improvement by the BIMAS (mass guidance), using the improved IR varieties. In the upland rice culture, traditional local varieties are still popular. These possess such characteristics as tall stature, few tillers, long ears, long-necked spikes and sometimes long awns. Grain shapes include slender, large and round, although most varieties have slender grains.
The problems involved in the introduction of new improved upland rice varieties into traditional upland areas are discussed with special reference to cultivation conditions and cropping systems.
