Local Wisdom for Ensuring Agriculture Sustainability: A Case from Indonesia

Abstract

Land transformation issues have been threatening the future of agriculture within the past decades. However, there are some areas that show their ability in maintaining their agricultural land. This paper aims to explore the farm management system resulted from the presence of legal pluralism that might contribute to future agricultural development. Data were gained through focus group discussions, observations, and in-depth interviews with various key informants. Systems thinking approach was used in this study, and data were iterated and modeled by using Causal Loop Diagram to give a better illustration of the phenomenon. We found that the integration between customary and legal law, which is manifested in the people’s farming praxis, is the main factor in sustaining the agricultural sector. The customary laws were reinforced by the local government, which made the government’s role crucial in allowing its citizen to continuously practice their beliefs in maintaining their agricultural lands. These conclusions are helpful in understanding the complexities underlying land transformation issues, which contributes to the literatures in related fields and improves the policy on agricultural land preservation in Indonesia and other developing countries.