Participatory tree crop development

The main source of livelihood of the rural people in West Aceh are fisheries, rice and tree crops. Hevearubber, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, coconut palm areca nuts are the main tree crops that are important cashearners for most household in the tsunami affected west coastal area of Aceh. In general the physicaldamage by Tsunami of 26th December 2004 was not too serious on tree crops. Some fruit trees werekilled by saline water inundation. Standing coconut as well as other palms remains productive (and evenmore productive than before the Tsunami). Cocoa trees appear to be recovering well. Rubber lost leavesbut is generally re-sprouting and is expected to be tapped soon.Even though destruction by Tsunami affected little physical/ biophysical damage on trees themselves,the earthquake and tsunami damage on roads, bridges, harbor, storage, processing facilities andmarkets (many traders died) was devastating. The human capacity and farmer institutions remainseverely weak. The post-Tsunami rehabilitation activities have paid little attention to the developmentand rehabilitation of human capacity and farmers’ organization as human and social capital to ensurethe sustainability of rural livelihood based on tree crops sector development. The road to Medan fromWest Aceh was damaged but to a lesser extent and was brought to operation relatively quickly. The roadto Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, was virtually washed away and has yet to be rebuilt.Following the earthquake and tsunami, both the supply (farmers) and demand (traders) sides remainedconstrained. Many farmers during post-Tsunami rehabilitation were occupied with ‘cash for work’programs and other construction activities. New opportunities arose for labor and trade. Many paddyfarmers stopped farming, rubber farmers stopped tapping. The off-farm activities ‘drained’ the alreadyreduced manpower in the region. Many farmer organizations that had been established earlier stoppedto function as with new economic opportunities arising, farming became a less priority for many of theirmembers.

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