Fire use: Is it really the cheaper land preparation method for large-scale plantations? |
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Authors: | Dicky Simorangkir |
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Institution: | (1) Director/Progamme Team Leader Tropenbos International – Indonesia Programme, Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Komp. Balikpapan Permai K1 No. 12A, Kalimantan Timur, PO Box 494, Balikpapan, 76100, Indonesia |
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Abstract: | During the last two decades Indonesia has experienced immense forest and land fires. Often these fires are associated with
extended drought and widespread use of fire to clear previously logged forest and other degraded land in preparation for oil
palm, rubber, or pulpwood plantations. There are many reasons for the use of fire in land clearing activities, but probably
the most important one is economics. There is still acceptance that fire is the cheapest, fastest, and most effective land
clearing method with the added benefit of providing nutrients from ash residues.
This paper provides a review of existing information on the financial costs and benefits of using fire for land clearing in
agriculture and forestry plantations as compared with zero-burning techniques. The findings indicate that the economic advantage
of fire use varies widely and depends on many factors, such as soil fertility, vegetation density, labour cost, equipment
and training costs, and the costs of fire management. For large-scale land clearing, the financial analysis of the costs and
benefits of fire versus zero-burning shows that when applied to low-volume vegetation, zero-burning methods are not more expensive
than burning – and may actually be more cost effective in the long term. This is the case for clearing oil palm or rubber
plantations for replanting, low secondary vegetation, and heavily logged-over forest. Under high-volume forest conditions,
burning remains less expensive because it is more difficult, time consuming, and costly to dispose of high volumes of piled
wood mechanically. |
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Keywords: | Agriculture Cost Economics Fire management Fire use Forestry Land clearing Plantation Zero-burning |
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