A.M.G. Cornelissen, S. Ifar, H.M.J. Udo
This paper focuses on the relevance of animal power in a farming system rather than on the importance of animal power itself. It is hypothesised that soil and terrain characteristics will be the main factors determining the relevance of animal power for land cultivation in upland areas. As a case study two different situations are describe: one village (Putukrejo) where land use is dominated by annual crops on flat areas with deep soils and one village (Kedungsalam) where agroforestry is becoming increasingly important in an area with steep slopes and shallow, stony soils. In both villages only a small fraction (14 and 6 %, respectively) of the poorer land was cultivated using cattle. The same was true for the better land in Kedungsalam (11%). In Putukrejo, however, more than one-third (35%) of the better land was cultivated by cattle. Efficiency of land cultivation on the better land was much higher in Putukrejo (34 h ha-1) than in Kedungsalam (84 h ha-1). Energy availability does not seem to be a limiting factor in either land use system. At village level, especially in Kedungsalam, only part of the energy theoretically available for land cultivation is used. The validity of the hypothesis depends on the level at which the data are analysed. At village level the data endorse the hypothesis. At farm level, however, land use rather than soil and terrain characteristics seems to have a direct influence on the decision whether to use animal power for land cultivation or not.
Dept. of Animal Production Systems, Wageningen Agricultural University, 6700 AH, Wageningen, PO Box 338, Netherlands; Interdisc. Agric. Res. Inst. (INRES), Brawijaya University, Malang, Jl. Maryen Haryono 169, Indonesia
