SMALLHOLDER RUBBER AND SWIDDEN AGRICULTURE IN BORNEO - A SUSTAINABLE ADAPTATION TO THE ECOLOGY AND ECONOMY OF THE TROPICAL FOREST

This is a study of the role of Para rubber cultivation in a system of swidden agriculture in Indonesian Borneo. Such holdings produce most O f Indonesia's rubber, which is the country's largest agricultural gene rator of foreign exchange. Rubber integrates well into Bornean systems of swidden agriculture: the comparative ecology and economy of Para r ubber and upland swidden rice result in minimal competition in the use of land and labor-and even in mutual enhancement-between the two syst ems. Rubber occupies a distinct niche in the farm economy: it meets th e need for market goods, while the swiddens meet subsistence needs. Th e intensity of,production on these small-holdings is, as a result, cha racteristically low (and may even vary inversely with market prices). This reflects the independence of these small holders from external ec onomic and political influences, which has been the key to their histo rical success. The special virtues of such ''composite systems '' meri t greater attention by development planners.