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Abstract
In Indonesia, agriculture makes a significant contribution to the economy.
The sector generates about twenty percent of gross domestic product (GDP), is a
major employer, and produces foreign exchange from non-oil exports. However, with
increased population pressure, especially in the densely populated island of Java, the
area of land for agriculture has decreased and cultivation has been forced to expand to
marginal land outside Java. To facilitate expansion, the Indonesian government
carried out a long-term transmigration programme, which was intended to distribute
people from the crowded inner islands of Java and Bali. In Southern Borneo, some of
transmigrants are settled on tidal swampland. Because the characteristics of
swampland are different from the agricultural land of Java, an appropriate farming
system should be employed to accommodate their unique environmental conditions.
This paper aims to assess the existing farming systems of indigenous farmers in South
Borneo and to compare these with transmigrant farming systems in two different
types of swamplands on the island.