Revealing Socio-Economic Dimensions of Farmers on HTR Area in South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province

Community Plantation Forest (HTR) is one of the social forestry schemes which is a new breakthrough in alleviating poverty in communities around the forest. This study is aimed to reveal the socio-economic conditions of farmers over time to get a measurable picture of the community changes on their socio-economic conditions. The research was conducted in Budi Lestari Village, South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province. Data collection methods include in-depth interviews with selected informants by purposive sampling, field observations and focus group discussions. Data analysis was undertaken through tabulating and examining all data from various sources. Those are using qualitative descriptive analysis. The result shows that land-based income is the main source of income for farmers, who are highly dependent on arable land, which is located in state forests (HTR). Plantation commodities, especially rubber, became the main source of income used to meet the needs of daily life, although their contribution decreased slightly compared to previous year. Some farmers cultivate forestry commodities, although under limited quantities. Some of them started to replace unproductive rubber plants to sengon plants. HTR area was planted with sengon under agroforestry system to support food security programs under intercropping forestry trees, estate crops and agricultural crops.