Women's Group: Cinnamon Seedling Cultivation in Sustainable Agriculture

Social Forestry Business Groups (KUPS) have become an effective instrument in introducing natural resource management through sustainable agriculture, while simultaneously maintaining or improving environmental quality and natural resource conservation. Specifically, the Customary Forest Management Group (KPHA) Biang Sari in Pengasi Baru Village, Bukit Kerman Subdistrict, Kerinci Regency, through community welfare improvement activities focused on the women's group KUPS Parbo, has taken the initiative to sustain the environment and provide positive impacts for the surrounding community.

Sustainable agriculture and forest rehabilitation are important issues in maintaining ecosystem sustainability. Through the development of productive businesses based on the potential of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), the women's group has initiated and identified cinnamon as an alternative income source and a solution to develop sustainable agriculture as well as rehabilitate forests in the Biang Sari customary forest area.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmannii) is a tropical tree known for its bark, which has high economic value and is widely used in the food, beverage, and traditional medicine industries. The increasing demand for cinnamon bark has led to overexploitation of wild cinnamon trees, indicating that commercial cinnamon cultivation is very important to undertake. Cinnamon nursery development is the first step in cultivating this tree, where effective nursery methods will influence the success of planting and tree growth.

Besides maintaining the sustainability of natural resources, cinnamon nursery activities carried out by the women’s group KUPS Parbo also serve as forest rehabilitation efforts. They recognize that the surrounding forests have been damaged due to human activities. Therefore, they utilize degraded lands to plant cinnamon seedlings. In the long term, this will help improve soil quality and restore the disrupted ecosystem balance.

The women’s group KUPS Parbo continues to strive to protect their village forest and gains additional benefits such as funding other environmental conservation activities and helping meet the community's needs from cinnamon tree planting. Furthermore, the group also receives support from the local government, namely KPHP Kerinci, which assists in nursery development and technical guidance to sustain KUPS Parbo’s efforts and rehabilitate the Biang Sari customary forest.