Fakultas Kehutanan UGM dan POLITANI Kerja Sama Pengembangan Agroforestri Cendana
Fakultas Kehutanan UGM dan POLITANI Kerja Sama Pengembangan Agroforestri Cendana
Faculty of Forestry Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) collaborates with East Nusa Tenggara State Agriculture Polytechnic (Indonesian acronym: POLITANI) on research sector, particularly the development of sandalwood agroforestry.
Lenny Marlina Mooy, S.P., M.P., a researcher at POLITANI, during her visit to Faculty of Forestry UGM on Thursday (28/9) said sandalwood is one of the typical plants in East Nusa Tenggara. However, currently, the local community in East Nusa Tenggara tends to be less interested in developing the sandalwood. In addition, the short rainy season period which is around 3 until 4 months makes it difficult to develop the sandalwood.
“Therefore, POLITANI collaborates with Faculty of Forestry UGM to develop sandalwood agroforestry,” said Lenny.
In the visit, Lenny was welcomed by Dean of Faculty of Forestry UGM, Dr. Budiadi, S.Hut., M.Agr.Sc. For five days, Lenny intensively discussed the development of sandalwood agroforestry with several experts, including Atus Syahbudin, S.Hut., M.Agr., Ph.D. and Yeni Widyana Nurchahyani Ratnaningrum, S.Hut. The discussion sparked the determination that the collaborative research can provide sandalwood seed source for East Nusa Tenggara in the future.
“We have Wanagama forest which was initiated by the late Prof. Oemi Hani’in. Through this cooperation, POLITANI is expected to be able to develop a high genetic sandalwood seed farm,” said Atus Syahbudin.
The cooperation between POLITANI and Faculty of Forestry UGM for the 2017-2018 period focused on sandalwood agroforestry activities. Faculty of Forestry UGM has many experiences in developing agroforestry, including Integrated Forestry Farming System (IFFS) as well as in-situ and ex situ conservation programs. IFFS succeeded to find rice and corn varieties which are drought resistant and can be planted between teak trees. A high-quality teak tree has been obtained after exploring various testing plantations.