Agroecological Approach on Sustained Basis to Promote Sustainable Agriculture and Food System: A Spatial Land Use Planning Perspective

¹ University of Palangka Raya Faculty of Agriculture, 74874 Palangka Raya, Indonesia
² National Research and Innovation Agency, Research Center for Crops, 16911 Bogor, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: andybhermana@yahoo.com; vamelia@agr.upr.ac.id

Abstract

The primary causes of environmental damage are inappropriate land use and land conversion, since the demand for agricultural land regions exceeds the availability of lands. A strategy is then required to make sustainable utilization of the remaining without endangering natural environment, particularly the land resources. The agroecological approach emphasizes sustainable agriculture by utilizing ecosystem on sustained basis. This approach leads to manage land resources in a sustainable way by selecting a suitable land use for agriculture. This study was conducted to develop a concept of spatial agricultural land use planning on the basis of land resource at sloping lands. The procedure of land suitability evaluation was used to determine land suitability for specific crops or group of crop/commodity. Specific crop of rice, consisting of paddy fields and upland rice, was selected to represent food crops. The result of land suitability evaluation revealed that slope as integral part of topography is main limiting factors in addition to soil fertility parameters in farming practices. The areas with slope classes lower than 15% can be allocated for agriculture purposes. To complete land use planning concept, specific program of land management related to technical issues, regulatory instruments including institutional frameworks should be designed.