TY - JOUR

T1 - Rubber intercropping

T2 - a viable concept for the 21st century?

AU - Langenberger, Gerhard

AU - Cadisch, Georg

AU - Martin, Konrad

AU - Min, Shi

AU - Waibel, Hermann

N1 - Funding information: This study has been conducted in the framework of the Sino-German “SURUMER Project”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with FKZ: 01LL0919A. We very much appreciate the hospitality of all our local partners and are especially grateful to the staff of the Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve Bureau for their support, particularly its general director Li Zhongqing and Mr. Liu Feng, director of the science and research department.

PY - 2017/6/2

Y1 - 2017/6/2

N2 - The last decades brought along a tremendous expansion of rubber plantations as well as respective socio-economic transformations. This paper reviews the historical development of rubber cultivation with special reference to intercropping and illustrates the major development steps. The agronomic challenges of intercropping are analyzed and a management classification scheme is suggested. Though the topic of labor always accompanied rubber management, it is nowadays of even higher relevance due to alternative income options, be it due to competing crops such as oil palm, or be it off-farm income opportunities. This development challenges labor intensive permanent intercropping systems. It can thus be concluded that the permanent integration of additional plants needs either to be highly profitable or at least be labor extensive to be adopted on a considerable scale. Given the large area of rubber plantations the latter seems to be more realistic. In this context timber trees might offer promising options if tree selection is properly adapted to site and plantation conditions. Nevertheless, without external interventions, such as land-use planning and implementation, or incentives, the development will be difficult to control.

AB - The last decades brought along a tremendous expansion of rubber plantations as well as respective socio-economic transformations. This paper reviews the historical development of rubber cultivation with special reference to intercropping and illustrates the major development steps. The agronomic challenges of intercropping are analyzed and a management classification scheme is suggested. Though the topic of labor always accompanied rubber management, it is nowadays of even higher relevance due to alternative income options, be it due to competing crops such as oil palm, or be it off-farm income opportunities. This development challenges labor intensive permanent intercropping systems. It can thus be concluded that the permanent integration of additional plants needs either to be highly profitable or at least be labor extensive to be adopted on a considerable scale. Given the large area of rubber plantations the latter seems to be more realistic. In this context timber trees might offer promising options if tree selection is properly adapted to site and plantation conditions. Nevertheless, without external interventions, such as land-use planning and implementation, or incentives, the development will be difficult to control.

KW - Cover cropping

KW - Ecosystem services and functions

KW - Initial intercropping

KW - Jungle rubber

KW - Permanent intercropping

KW - Rubber diversification, rubber-timber intercropping

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84973176808&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10457-016-9961-8

DO - 10.1007/s10457-016-9961-8

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84973176808

VL - 91

SP - 577

EP - 596

JO - Agroforestry Systems

JF - Agroforestry Systems

SN - 0167-4366

IS - 3

ER -