Kelud is a volcano located in East Java on Java in Indonesia . Kelud is located close to Kediri, about 90 kilometres from Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya. Typical eruptions are short and violent, and produce pyroclastic flows and lahars. An earthquake crisis in October 2007 was followed by formation of a lava dome. PUM Netherlands Senior Experts received a request for advice how to reforest the Kelud area. Another request was to improve ecotourism, because the region produces a variety of fruits.

Agro forestry or agro-sylviculture is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around, or among, crops or pastureland. It combines Agricultural and Forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. Agro forestry system can solve the problem of forest security and increase farmers income. Very often Teak (Tectona grandis) is used as a commercial wood species. On the photo you can see three layers: pine-apple, papaya and a commercial tree.

Besides the already present program for planting of trees for the production of wood like Teak and Mahogany, the spreading of fruit trees among farmers needs to be stimulated more. On very poor and dry soils where the growth of commercial trees lag behind, it is desirable to introduce an adapted kind of wood - Azadirachta Indica (Neem tree) This tree is also suitable for giving shadow on the yards. The oil from the nuts can furnish a new product.

In the plantation forests of Java, teak is mainly produced by a state owned company Throughout the rest of Indonesia, millions of farmers also grow teak. They produce nearly 80 million trees, with 25 percent of those ready for harvest. Smallholders face major hurdles in running a profitable teak plantation. Poor silviculture techniques produce poorer quality of timber, but smallholders often don’t have enough money to invest in education, or better farming methods. A lack of capital means they have difficulty waiting for even the duration of a teak rotation before needing to get money back on their planting investment.

After an authoritarian regime, in 1998 the Reformation was formed. Revolutions took place in the country, with larger responsibilities for the local governments as one of the changes. This resulted in unexpected situations in the provinces where traditional hierarchical relationships got disturbed. The agricultural people started to exploit state property terrains as their own. They started to cut trees on a large scale to clear the terrains for agricultural activities. This process was not controlled and the final result was large scale erosion on the hills in the Kediri district.

The first pine plantations were established in Indonesia in the 1940s with Pinus merkusii. They were initially established for resin tapping. Wood is only of secondary importance. The bare hills in the direct surroundings of the city Kediri are being washed away and the undermining of the most local roads are in large contrast to the planned objectives. In the most critical erosion sensitive zones Pinus should be protected to stop deforestation .

One of the possibilities to stop uncontrolled exploitation in forest areas is to develop ecotourism. Local farmers want to plant more fruit trees. The area is suited for Durian, a tree species that already gives yield after six years. By selling fruits and side products the farmers can earn extra income. The region can produce a variety of fruits. The pineapple of Kediri is even famous .

On Java the lower mountain forests are rich with tree fern. Cyathea is commonly known as the scaly tree fern. Cyathea contaminans is protected. The government has forbidden harvest and trade of this species in Java. True nature or forests with a complete ecosystem are hardly present around Kediri and in the rest of East Java. And that is something that (eco)tourists take with charm. One of the areas that lends itself extremely well to build in nature is the Kelud area around the volcano.

The landscape of the island of Java, in the Indonesian archipelago, is dominated by volcanoes and rice fields. The human landscape of this; the world's most densely populated island is equally thrilling to the eye, and no visitor can remain unaffected by the special atmosphere that makes this island so unique. Rice is cultivated in both lowland and upland elevations throughout Indonesia, with the upland crop typically being rain fed and receiving only low levels of fertilizer applications. Irrigated lowland rice is both well watered and heavily fertilized.

Indonesia: East Java - Kediri