Fruit germplasm resources and demands for smallscale farmers post-tsunami and conflicts In Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province, Indonesia

Civil conflicts and the December 2004 tsunami have impeded the development of local fruit germplasm despite the inherent high quality an d potential of Aceh’s fruit germplasm. Most of Aceh communities are composed of smallscale farmers with land ownership averaging from 0.25 to 4 ha per capita; they plant various tr ees species (fruits, rubber, cocoa, etc) in a mixed-tree based system (agroforestry) with extensive management. In Aceh’ village markets most fruit is produced by local farmers. Increased price of fruits in Aceh region has urged the farmers to enhance their fruit production by planting more fruit trees. Farmers prefer to plant tree species that have good mark et prices and easy to domesticate, such as Durian, Rambutan, Mango, Duku. However, currently farmers have limited access to good quality fruit seedlings. Farmers with financ ial resources buy seedlings from Medan while most cash-limited farmers produce seedlings themselves. Farmers need good quality fruit germplasm resources if they are going to produc e high-quality seedling. As part of post- tsunami and conflict rehabilitation activities in Aceh region, we inventoried fruit germplasm resources (both indigenous and introduced variety) and demands in Aceh as source for livelihood and ensure food security (nutritional standpoint) particularly of the local community. The work was completed through discussion with local stakeholders (farmers, governments, universities) and direct observati on. In this paper, we listed the fruit germplasm resources’ location and condition in Aceh and how small scale farmers could access and use it to improve their fruit production.

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