Lessons from the Rubber Slump: West Kalimantan Farmers Resist Full Conversion to Oil Palm

West Kalimantan, October 25, 2025 — Natural rubber was once the primary source of income for residents of Mekar Raya Village, Simpang Dua District, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan. During its golden years, the village's economy depended almost entirely on latex production.

"Back then, almost everyone who managed to attend university here did so because of income from rubber," said Rawatrony, a local rubber farmer.

However, that prosperity did not last. Toward the end of the 1990s, Indonesia's rubber prices collapsed, severely impacting household incomes and the local economy.

"When rubber prices crashed, many children had to drop out of school because families depended solely on rubber. Even buying fuel for our motorcycles became difficult because there was simply no money. We were struggling just to survive," Rawatrony recalled.

The crisis became a turning point for many farmers in Mekar Raya. Large numbers abandoned rubber cultivation in favor of oil palm, which at the time promised higher and more stable returns.

Rawatrony, however, chose a different path.

Drawing lessons from the volatility of the rubber market, he decided not to convert all five hectares of his land into oil palm plantations, believing that relying on a single commodity would expose his family to the same risks in the future.

Agroforestry as a Risk Management Strategy

Today, three hectares of Rawatrony's land are managed under an agroforestry system that combines rubber trees with coffee, meranti, langsat, ketapang trees, and rattan.

Around the coffee plots, he also cultivates bananas, eggplants, corn, long beans, chili peppers, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, mustard greens, and spinach.

By diversifying his crops, Rawatrony hopes to reduce business risks while creating multiple sources of income throughout the year.

"Many farmers here have already converted all of their land to oil palm. I deliberately kept part of my land under other crops because I don't want to depend entirely on palm oil. If I planted oil palm everywhere, I'm afraid we could face another crisis similar to what happened when rubber prices collapsed," he explained.

Coffee Creates New Economic Opportunities

Rawatrony's strategy has begun to deliver results.

Beyond strengthening his family's economic resilience, the agroforestry approach has created new business opportunities. Coffee produced on his farm is now marketed beyond the village.

He credits much of this progress to technical assistance provided by Tropenbos Indonesia, which has helped farmers improve cultivation practices while developing market access for the region's locally branded Robusta Simpang Dua coffee.

"Many of us here grow coffee. We couldn't consume all of it ourselves, so we needed a market. About five years ago, Tropenbos helped us find buyers. Thankfully, we now have a market, coffee farming is growing again, and farmers have started replanting and pruning trees that had previously been neglected," Rawatrony said.

A Community Rebuilding Through Diversification

Today, Mekar Raya Village is gradually rebuilding its rural economy.

While natural rubber remains an important livelihood, farmers are increasingly embracing diversified farming systems rather than depending on a single commodity. Their experience with the dramatic collapse in rubber prices has reshaped long-term land-use decisions, encouraging greater resilience through agroforestry and crop diversification.

For many farmers in West Kalimantan, the lesson from the past is clear: diversification offers greater long-term security than relying entirely on a single commodity, regardless of how profitable it may seem at a given time.