A REPORT ON MY INDEPENDENT STUDY AT TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF

AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR SHORT TERM EXCHANGE

PROGRAM 2016/2017 ACADEMIC YEAR, TOKYO, JAPAN.

AFRIAN ANDRIANTO

16998007
Supervisor: Yosei OIKAWA

REPONG DAMAR

Lampung province is one of provinces in Indonesia which has blessed with abundance of

natural resources. One of them which survived to the present day as local dignity, and located

at the West Coast, Pahmungan village is Repong Damar Cultivation System. In the terminology

of the people of West Coast, Repong is a piece of upland covered by various types of productive

plant types; from economical value plants to a variety of wild plant species in an ecological

unit. The people of the West Coast refers to such upland as Repong Damar because of the

presence of Damar trees (Shorea javanica) dominating the upland (Lubis, 1997). Damar tree

is a tree from the Dipterocarpaceae family which produces resin which has economic value.

The management of such trees, Damar trees that have produced resin are tapped and then the

tapped trees are retained by the community for the reproduction of resin. This cycle takes

usually a month. Furthermore, the resin that has been tapped is grouped based on the quality.

For quality A, the resin has clear yellow colour with the chunk size of more than 3cm. Its

wiretapping cycle takes more than 30 days. On the other hand, quality B resin has a clear yellow

colour but with chunk size less than 2cm. For Quality B, the wiretapping cycle takes between

the range of 3-4 weeks. Quality ABs resin has a yellow colour and it is somewhat blackish

with small chunk size of 1 cm while Quality AC is blackish-coloured and in the form of small

grains. Finally, the Dust Quality has resin that is in the form of dust. The market selling price
of the resin is strongly determined by the quality of the resin. In addition, the price of the resin

is also affected by trade chains ranging from farmers to large wholesalers for further export.

The cultivation of Repong Damar systems are seen to be able to support the socio-economic

life of communities that take shelter in it. According to Lensary (2011), in 1995 about 79% of

the population in the region of the West Coast can depend solely on Repong Damar for survival.

Therefore, this cultivation system serves as a source of jobs for the community, where the

community directly benefits economically which provides sufficient support in the form of

income for them to meet their daily needs. In addition, there are also benefits indirectly in the

sense that it helps to maintain sustainability of the environment. The income generated from

the Repong Damar cultivation system is used to meet daily necessities such as food or non-

food needs.

However, the direct economic benefits enjoyed by the community is experiencing a downturn.

This is characterized by the presence of a decrease in resin production from year to year, as

seen from the following data:

Table 1. Damar resin production

No. Year Amount of production (ton)

1. 2004 6,503
2. 2005 3,992
3. 2006 6,518
4. 2007 6,250
5. 2008 5,850
6. 2009 2,469
Source : http://cybex.pertanian.go.id/materilokalita/detail/5160

Table 1 shows the amount of production of the resin in tons declined in 2005, and then

increased in sharply in the subsequent year, 2006. Afterwards, a shallow decline continued

until the year 2009.

There are some constraints that led to a decrease in the production of resin, one of which is a

reduced number of tree resin due to illegal logging. On the other hand, the decrease in the price

of the resin in the market is caused by the influence of the market against the side products

which certainly affects the frequency and long intercepts. On the limits of the resin price

ratios compared to rice, tapping frequency will increase and result in a loss of quality. As for

other factors causing a decline in the quality of the resin that is theft increasing resin so that the

resin tapping more often do farmers (Astuti, 2006).

Post-war economic crisis, the sustainability of the system of repong damar start worrying due

to the resin price continues to decline. However, there was a study conducted by Sakinah

(2006) showed that the more the leading cause was business administration system of resin

which is not profitable for farmers. Most of the farmers are confronted on the channel lengthy

business administration before it gets to the exporter.

Based on the above problems, there is the need for surveillance against illegal logging by the

community as well as improvement of the system of business administration so that it can be

profitable for farmers. This is because it affects income level of farmers. Earned income of

farmers for the purchase of daily needs would go a long way to help them obtain a well-

balanced diet. This would also influence their decisions on what to eat which in turn would

determine their health and for that matter the productivity of their families and the community

at large. Ultimately, the level of knowledge of the resin farmer and his family would also

increase

resin farmer that will ultimately determine the level of knowledge of the damar farmer families

about repong damar cultivation system which is expected to be able to perform the management

of repong damar sustainably for sustainability the viability of the farming community of damar

resin.
Reference:

Astuti, I. S. 2006. Repong damar in West Lampung coastal: when nature and human in
harmony. https://waykrui.wordpress.com/about/repong-damar/

Lubis, Z. 1997. Repong Damar: A study of decision making in the management of forest land
at Krui coastal. http://www.cifor.org/library/

Lensary, D. 2011. Management performance of repong damar reviewed aspects of ecological,

social, and economic. Thesis Master of Science. Institut Pertanian Bogor.

http://cybex.pertanian.go.id