1. CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Murtedza Mohamed Faculty of Resource Science and and Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Jamaludin Jaya Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Brussels 8 Apr 2003

2. CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK

3. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Malaysia has ca. 2.7 million ha of tropical peatlands (8% of the nation’s total area), third largest area next to Indonesia and Venezuela. Sarawak has the largest share of peatlands amongst the states in Malaysia, at ca. 1.7 million ha or 13% of the state’s land area.

4. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Peatlands in Sarawak

5. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Peat area developed for agriculture: Hamzah (1999): 298 000 ha Melling (1999): 555 000 ha Drainability study by DOA (based on 1:1200 criteria) gave total drainable and fairly drainable peat area in Sarawak as ca. 500 000 ha. The remaining 1.2 million ha ? Geospatial database management, accuracy, availability

6. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Agriculture and Forest Plantations

7. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Sustainability Problems of Small Scale Farming on Peatlands Water table Soil properties fertility - ferilizer acidity - liming handling (texture, residue) a requisite to regulate prior to planting Capital and operational costs and manpower

8. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Sustainability Problems of Large Scale Plantations on Peatlands Social Land preparation Residue (zero burning) Buffer (riverine, common boundary) Conservation area Land disputes Right-of-way Interface with catchment areas vs. opportunity for rural growth, revenue Economics High development cost compensated by marginally higher yields on peat market price social cost- benefit Sustainabilty issue ecological integrity

9. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Soil physico- chem. properties Water mgt. Few comprehensive drainability study - water logging Overdrainage - oxidation, subsidence land use/ peat integrity Oxidation (subsidence); infra-struct. maintenance Bearing capacity - root enchorage, palm leaning, mechanisation Agrochemicals - xs weedicide, fertilizer economics/ peat integrity Sustainabilty issue

10. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Difficulty in Planning and Assessment of Impacts/Sustainability Inaccessibility to official information/database Lack of expertise (amongst assessors, managers) Lack and inaccuracy of geo-spatial information Lack of and/or poor quality database (e.g. of soil properties)

11. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Policy and guidelines* for developing of peatlands Resource inventorisation, social* and ecological studies Enhancement of decision making tools for better precision More R & D to fill in the knowledge gaps* Sharing of information* among stakeholders (especially researchers, planners, consultants and users of peatlands). MANAGEMENT ISSUES OF INTEREST (NEED FOR): * STRAPEAT intervention by Unimas and MARDI in Sarawak

12. Brussels 8 Apr 2003 CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ON PEATLANDS IN SARAWAK Thank you