Dipterocarp Trees in Rubber Agroforestry: Interplanting Strategies for High-value Timber Production in Sumatra

Rubber agroforests in Sumatra (Indonesia) are managed by farmers under a range of management intensities. For trees other than Rubber farmers usually rely on natural
regeneration, selecting useful trees (fruits, fire wood, spices, dye and timber) among many.

With depletion of natural forests, the main source of timber, farmers are now interested in growing timber trees inside Rubber gardens (called Kebun Karet) both for
domestic use and household income.

Meranti, trade name for Shorea spp. (Dipterocarpaceae), is a high economic value timber, that can be inter-planted with Rubber. Some Shorea species, e.g. S. fallax, are shade tolerant; while others, like S. leprosula, S. selanica and S. lamellata, are light demanding.

To support on-farm experimentation, we used the Spatially Explicit Individual-based Forest Simulator (SExI-FS) to explore options and planting strategies.