Effects of economic development on cropping system and the sustainable use of plant resources

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Urbanization and industrialization have changed Indonesian agriculture, in such a way that farmers have stopped cultivating cassava and Amorphophallus species which were previously used as substitutes for rice. Therefore, genetic resources are disappearing from the traditional cropping systems in Indonesia. Traditional cropping systems such as Pekarangan and Tunpansari have been studied both sociologically and economically. However, genetic diversity of cultivated plants in these traditional cropping systems have yet to be studied. The Indonesian government has decided to conserve these crops and intend to use them for industrial purposes. In this study, we investigated the changes in cassava varieties which farmers have grown, and found that many local varieties which are suitable for food but low yield have lost after rice production increased due to the green revolution. Secondly, we clarified the genetic diversity of Amorphophallus species using morphological characters. Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (elephant foot yams) are grown as ground-layer crops in home gardens because they are tolerant to low light intensities and low fertility. Elephant foot yams play a minor role as food crops at the present time. However, they have potential as an industrial crop because they can be cultivated under the canopy of plantation crops. Principal component analysis showed that accessions were divided into five groups, A to E. Relationships between the growth habitats and groups classified by principal component analysis show that groups could be divided into two ecotypes, which are adapted to lowlands (A, B and E) and to uplands c. Sucrose and starch concentrations in corms varied largely among accessions, but iseems unlikely that carbohydrate concentrations are related to the classification based on morphological characters.