tations. Hevea brasiliensis was introduced in Jambi province at the beginning of the 20th
century, progressively replacing swidden rice cultivation with agroforests (Joshi et al. 2002;
Feintrenie and Levang 2009). These rubber agroforests are smallholder plantations
combining rubber trees with useful species of timber and fruit trees, or handicraft material
such as rattan and bamboo (De Foresta 1993; Rasnovi et al. 2006; Beukema et al. 2007; De
Foresta 2008; Lehébel-Péron et al. 2010). Since the 1950s, rubber agroforests have been
challenged by monospecific rubber plantations, of both improved clonal seedlings and local
varieties, which generate a higher return to land.
Oil palm was first introduced in Jambi province in the early 1980s by the
transmigration program (Feintrenie and Levang 2009). This program aimed at moving
volunteers from the over-populated islands of Java and Bali to the less populated islands of
Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi (Levang 1997). These plantations usually followed a
Nucleus Estates and Smallholders (NES) scheme in which a company holds a refinery and an
estate surrounded by smallholdings. The wealth of Sumatran agriculture since the 1980s
attracted more migrants from Java, a move that was further encouraged by district and
provincial authorities eager to increase population density in their constituencies, especially
since the passing of the regional autonomy laws in 1999 (Hugo 2000; Nurrochmat 2005;
Feintrenie and Levang 2009).