A.I.J.M. van Dijk (2002) Water and Sediment Dynamics in Bench-terraced Agricultural Steeplands in West Java, Indonesia.

PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Chapter 2 Introduction
2.1. Land degradation in West Java When in 1619 the first Dutch colonists established a settlement at what is now Jakarta, most of the island of Java, and its uplands in particular, were covered with primary rainforest. The Sundanese people that inhabited the hilly western part of the island in low numbers subsisted on a form of shifting cultivation, whereas the Javanese, living mainly in the eastern and central lowlands of the island, were practising irrigated rice cultivation (Geertz, 1963). All this slowly started to change around 1700, when the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) sensed the potential profitability of coffee cultivation in the uplands and exploited the existing feudal structures to introduce the so-called Priangan System, later followed by the Culture System (1830-1870). These systems required upland farmers to grow coffee on part of their land and faced with this compulsion, they started planting coffee on abandoned land while making new clearings for the cultivation of rainfed rice (Hardjono, 1987). With the colonial government squeezing maximum returns out of the upland farmers, many were driven into destitution or fled from their farms to clear forest in other, less controlled parts of the uplands (Palmer, 1959). The outbreak of coffee leaf blight (Hemileia vastatrix) around 1885 devastated virtually all coffee plantations on Java. The Culture System declined with the coffee crop and farmers turned many of the abandoned plantations into annual cropping land. Meanwhile, the population started to grow ever faster and this, together with the new establishment of large private tea, rubber and cocoa estates, led to increasingly large upland forest areas being cleared in West Java, while the remaining forested lowlands and valley bottoms were clear-felled for the cultivation of irrigated rice that was introduced from Central and East Java (Whitten et al., 1996). Alarmed by the erosion and soil depletion that had been observed in coffee plantations, the colonial government ordered all newly cleared slopes to be terraced (Nibbering, 1991). The potential adverse hydrological consequences of deforestation also worried the administration and the policy on forest clearing became increasingly strict until further clearing was finally prohibited in 1938. In addition, large-scale terracing and land redistribution programmes targeting smallholders were launched in the 1930s as part of an ethical revival (Schuitemakers, 1949; De Haan, 1952) The Japanese rulers replacing the Dutch in 1942 slashed most of the export crop estates to plant castor oil and cloth fibre producing crops. Many of the crops failed, however, and land degradation is generally considered to have been particularly severe in

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION this period (Palte, 1989; Nibbering, 1991). After the revolution that led to Indonesias independence, guerrillas fighting for an Islamic state caused farmers in parts of West Javas uplands to flee and take refuge in safer villages and cities elsewhere (Hardjono, 1987). In the early 1960s many returned, only to find irrigation structures degraded and the abandoned land taken over by other farmers, or distributed among military personnel after the ousting of the rebels. In addition, the Suharto government that took office in the late 1960s switched from a policy of land redistribution to one encouraging private enterprise and was more tuned to intensification of lowland rice cultivation and industrial development than to the position of smallholder and landless upland farmers (Whitten et al., 1996). Nonetheless, severe on-site land degradation in the hills and, especially, the associated off-site silting of rivers, irrigation channels and reservoirs perceived to be essential to economic development downstream prompted intervention by the government (Pickering, 1979). Adding to the series of soil conservation campaigns and upland development programmes initiated earlier on in the century, farmers were encouraged in the late 1970s to terrace their land, plant trees, establish home gardens and introduce other ways of soil conservation (Purwanto, 1999). Under the common theme of regreening programmes, such efforts are still carried out to date, often with bilateral or multilateral assistance (Purwanto, 1999). Partly as a results of these regreening projects, more than 80% of Javas uplands now appears to have been bench terraced (Purwanto, 1996). Unfortunately, this has failed to make a lasting impact on the magnitude of river sediment loads, which continue to rank among the highest in the world, typically amounting to 10-60 t ha-1 yr-1 (Carson, 1989; World Bank, 1990; Whitten et al., 1996). At the same time, erosion remains a significant problem (Agus et al., 1998) with some 15% of the islands river basins declared to be in a critical state (Whitten et al., 1996), and the majority of upland farmers continues to live in destitution or on the verge of it (Purwanto, 1999).

2.2. Previous research by CHERP Having established that soil conservation programmes have not met their intended purpose, it is important to identify the reasons for this lack of impact. Firstly, this leads one to question whether the various proposed conservation measures (bench terracing, planting trees, sediment check dams, and so on) have indeed been implemented and maintained over the years. If not, it is important to learn what prevented farmers from doing so. If the answer is affirmative, it needs to be determined why these various measures have not been effective in reducing river sediment loads. The above questions were addressed in a case study during the first phase of the Cikumutuk Hydrology and Erosion Research Project (CHERP) that was initiated in the fall of 1994, as a collaborative effect between the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and the Amsterdam Vrije Universiteit (Purwanto, 1999). Research efforts were concentrated within a small (1 km2) upland catchment near Malangbong, about 40 km East of Bandung, West Java (Fig. 3.1). The area is located within the larger Cimanuk river, which annually carries an estimated 8 million tonnes (equivalent to 20 t ha-1) of sediment to the Java Sea (D.A. Holmes, pers.comm.). The physical characteristics of the study area can generally be considered representative for the older volcanic catchments dominating much of West Javas uplands (see Chapter 3), while the socio-economic conditions reflect many of the

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION problems affecting the livelihood of upland farmers. Like most of Java, the area has been subjected to a number of soil conservation programmes. Between 1986 and 1991, the Upland Farming Development Project was carried out in the Cimanuk basin, with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The aim was to alleviate upland farmer poverty, while at the same time reducing sediment production rates. Attempts were made to introduce more benign cropping systems, inter alia by establishing demonstration plots and providing financial encouragement for farmers to construct bench terraces, cover the terrace risers with grass, plant fruit trees, keep livestock, and so on (Purwanto, 1996; Huszar, 1998). The project was followed by the US$ 31 million World Bank funded Upper Cimanuk Watershed Project (1994-2000). This project had comparable objectives and methodology, but gained new momentum in 1999 as existing proposals for constructing a dam downstream in the Cimanuk river were revived (D.A. Holmes, pers. comm.). Despite such efforts, however, field surveys in 1994 (three years after the first conservation programme had been completed) demonstrated that many of the introduced trees already had been cut down and although the majority of hillsides was still benchterraced, their maintenance was in a poor state, both in terms of construction and vegetation cover. In addition to this, all gully plugs and check dams that had been constructed in the Cikumutuk catchment to prevent sediment from reaching the stream (at a cost of 20-30,000 US$ each) had already either filled up entirely or had given way (Purwanto, 1999). In addition, local farmers expressed a general fatigue or even apprehension towards soil conservation programmes. Most farmers appeared well aware of erosion and were concerned about its consequences as well as knowledgeable of ways to stop it, but did not have the resources to act or did not hold the rights to the land they were cropping (Purwanto, 1999). Clearly then, contentions that have occasionally been expressed in the past, suggesting that farmers have poor understanding of environmental issues, are not interested in long-term effects, or even irresponsible, ignorant or irrational, require revision (cf. Blaikie, 1985; Nibbering, 1991; Critchley, 2000). Conversely, because of the uncertainty surrounding their tenure status, farmers were reluctant to invest in soil conservation and agronomic improvements as long as they could not be certain of reaping the benefits of their investment. A spiral of degradation emerged: because inputs are minimal, the soil becomes exhausted and, ultimately, only fit for the cultivation of cassava with its greater capacity to extract nutrients from the depleted soil (Cock and Howeler, 1978). As the potential of the soil decreases further it becomes even less attractive to invest money and labour. Also, the lack of income generated by subsistence cropping led to seasonal migration of (mostly) men in search of other sources of income in towns and cities elsewhere (Purwanto, 1999). A repeat survey carried out in November 2001 suggested that many of the rainfed fields were left fallow, apparently mainly because of the continuing decline in market prices for cassava. According to local farmers many had decided to remain in the cities during the wet season in search of income. Although this development may be considered beneficial in terms of soil erosion, it also suggests that the economic position of the local population continues to worsen. As quintessential as these socio-economical problems are, it is also important to verify whether soil conservation programmes have actually been realistic in their objectives. Given that at least the bench terraces in the area persisted (even if poorly managed) one should look for causes for their lack of impact on river sediment loads. For example, it has been suggested that sources other than rainfed agricultural land may be responsible for much of the high sediment loads. Proposed culprits include roads, trails,

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION settlements and ngaguguntur, i.e. the cutting back of hill-sides that is associated with irrigated rice cultivation in valley bottoms (Diemont et al., 1991). In addition, the combination of Javas steep topography, high rainfall and unstable geology may also lead to high sediment loads even under full forest cover, via such natural sources as volcanic eruptions, streambank erosion and landslides on steep mountain slopes (Diemont et al., 1991). Results of the CHERP project do not substantiate these claims, however. Runoff and sediment production were measured in the project using a nested approach, i.e. for progressively larger areas ranging from (Fig. 3.1): (i) individual terrace riser and bed sections, through (ii) terrace units, (iii) multiple terrace plots, and (iv) zero-order (gully) sub-catchments to (v) an entire 1 km2 catchment. Furthermore, sediment outputs from a housing area and from a 0.3 ha Paraserianthes tree plantation were measured, as well as those from a series of irrigated rice fields (Van den Berg, 1997; Purwanto, 1999). Finally, field surveys provided insight to the importance of erosion from forest and grasslands, natural and man-assisted river bank erosion and mass wasting. This research enabled the construction of an approximate catchment sediment budget, demonstrating that most sediment did indeed come from the (bench-terraced) cropped fields. Of all sediment leaving the catchment annually - estimated at ca. 70 t ha-1 by Purwanto (1999), but more likely in the order of 40 t ha-1 on a longer term basis (Chapter 14) - more than two-thirds was supplied by the rainfed agricultural hillsides. Only modest volumes were contributed by settlement areas and trails, tree plantations and abandoned scrub and grassland, or associated with sawah expansion, river bank erosion and mass wasting. In the absence of ngaguguntur, irrigated rice fields even had a slight reducing effect on sediment yield in that they acted as natural filters (Van den Berg, 1997; Purwanto, 1999). These findings corroborate conclusions drawn from measurements in (sub-catchments within) the 233 km2 Kali Konto catchment in East Java (Rijsdijk and Bruijnzeel, 1990/1991; Rijsdijk, in prep.). As virtually all agricultural fields in the Cikumutuk catchment had some form of terracing, the logical implication of the observed high stream sediment loads is that either the terraces are less than effective in reducing soil loss from these fields, or that the sediment is generated beyond the terraces, i.e. in the drainage network that funnels runoff from the terraces towards the stream. It is important to distinguish between these two possibilities, because they lead to different remedies in terms of soil conservation. Storage between the terrace and the stream also affects the time lag between the implementation of soil conservation measures and any subsequent reductions in stream sediment loads, as sediment may continue to be contributed from within the drainage network for some time (Walling, 1983). Purwanto (1999) measured sediment yields on a range of scales within the Cikumutuk catchment, from individual bench terraces to groups of terraces and parts of hillsides. Because of the labour involved, however, measurements were restricted to four terrace units having contrasting geometry and position on the hillslope. As a consequence, and also because no attempt was made to assess the storage of sediment in the drainage network at the time, it proved effectively impossible to satisfactorily reconcile measurements made at the various levels of scale (Purwanto, 1999). On the other hand, the results from Purwanto (1999) do suggest that the bench terraces can indeed produce potentially large quantities of sediment. Additional measurements of sediment yield from sections of steep, mostly unvegetated terrace risers suggested that these produced a large proportion of the total amount of sediment lost from individual terrace units: some risers were observed to erode at the impressive rate of about 30 kg m-2 (equivalent to more than 3 cm) per rainy season on a projected area

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION basis. Critchley (2000) and Bruijnzeel and Critchley (1996) drew similar conclusions from measurements on bench terraces in the sedimentary soils of the somewhat drier Gunung Kidul district (Yogyakarta Special Province) elsewhere in Java. It has been argued that the potential for bench terraces to produce large amounts of sediment, and the role of the terrace risers in this respect, have not been sufficiently taken into account when predicting the benefits of soil conservation programmes (Critchley, 2000). Such exercises traditionally involve use of the (Revised) Universal Soil Loss Equation or (R)USLE (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978; Renard et al., 1997). However, the (R)USLE is essentially empirical and needs careful calibration when used outside the range of environmental conditions encountered in the U.S.A. for which it was originally designed. Indonesian soils, rainfall characteristics, and cropping and tillage practices often differ markedly from those found in the U.S.A., although attempts to calibrate the (R)USLE for these have met with some success (see Chapter 13). The narrow bench terraces constructed on Indonesias steep hillsides create significant problems for the calibration and use of (R)USLE-type equations however (Purwanto, 1999; Critchley, 2000). In conclusion, methods used to predict the effect of management schemes on soil loss and stream sediment loads in previous soil conservation programmes were flawed and may well have led to unrealistic expectations (cf. Critchley, 2000).

2.3. Research objectives The above considerations provided the rationale for a second phase of the CHERP project, carried out in the Cikumutuk catchment between 1998 and 2002 by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, with financial support from the Netherlands Foundation for Advancement of Tropical Research (Dutch acronym: WOTRO). One of the basic premises in defining the research objectives and methodology for this second phase was that a consistent and reliable evaluation of contrasting management scenarios can only be achieved through a better understanding of the physical processes involved in water and sediment dynamics on these bench-terraced hillsides. To enable its application in future land use planning, it was attempted to incorporate this understanding in a process-based modelling framework. The combination of physical, essentially deterministic modelling and a highly variable environment (both in time and in space) presents challenges of its own, as will be illustrated throughout this thesis, but arguably still has more predictive potential than the more traditional empirical approach of the (R)USLE (cf. Rose, 1993). Research carried out during the second phase of CHERP covered a broad range of topics including water use, biomass and nutrient dynamics of mixed rainfed agricultural crops, alang-alang (Imperata cylindrica (L.) Rauschel) grassland and fast-growing sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria Nielsen) plantation forest, the production of surface runoff and sediment associated with these contrasting land uses, and overall catchment hydrology, hydrogeology and hydrochemistry. However, the present thesis focuses on three main objectives, viz.: (i) to determine the water use of the mixed cropping system based on maize (Zea mays L.) and cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) that dominates the rainfed bench-terraced hillsides in the study area and much of upland Java; (ii) to identify, measure and mathematically describe the most important erosion processes on the bench terraces and the factors that determine these processes;

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION (iii) to develop, verify and test a model that can be used to predict surface runoff and soil loss from bench-terraced hillsides as affected by different agronomic and soil conservation management scenarios. Although limitation to these three subjects was dictated mainly by time constraints, they address the most important elements of the research carried out during the second project phase.1

2.4. Outline and general methodology The physiography of the study catchment is described in some detail in Chapter 3. In Chapters 4 to 6, the results of measurements and modelling of evapotranspiration from the mixed cropping system are presented. To determine vegetation water use, micrometeorological measurements were made to calculate water fluxes associated with plant water uptake (transpiration) and soil evaporation, while throughfall and stemflow were measured to provide an independent estimate of interception losses. The results were used to calibrate existing models of interception loss (Gash et al., 1995) and evapotranspiration (Monteith, 1965), to enable the prediction of changes in water use caused by changes in the cropping system. In both models the rapid growth of the crops during the growing season were explicitly taken into account, which required important model adaptation in the case of interception modelling (Chapter 4). Finally, water fluxes between soil, vegetation and atmosphere were modelled in a soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer (or SVAT) model to estimate annual water use (Chapter 6). The main processes causing soil loss from the bench terraces and the most important factors determining them were investigated by a variety of techniques, the results of which are presented in Chapters 7 to 10. Field observations during the first phase of CHERP suggested that rain splash was an important process in detaching soil and transporting sediment, in particular on the steep and largely unvegetated terrace risers. Erosion process models usually do not take this type of erosion into account explicitly (Morgan et al., 1992; De Roo et al., 1996; Yu et al., 1997b), presumably because the short, steep slopes on which rain splash becomes important do not frequently occur in non-terraced environments. A substantial effort was therefore put into measuring and modelling rain splash. Chapter 7 presents a review of the available literature on relationships between rainfall intensity, the distribution of raindrop sizes and rainfall kinetic energy. On the basis of this review, a single, general relationship to estimate kinetic energy from rainfall intensity measurements is proposed and tested. Next (Chapter 8), a mathematical theory is developed to describe the redistribution of soil particles after they have been splashed by impacting raindrops. The theory is employed to derive a set of equations for interpreting the results of published splash experiments. Such experiments were also carried out in the current project and the results are described in Chapters 9 and 10. Measurements of rain splash were made in the field with splash cups and a modified type of Gerlach trough (Chapter 9) and under semicontrolled conditions using experimental soil trays subject to natural rainfall (Chapter 10). Some of these experiments also produced measurements of material initially detached by raindrops but subsequently transported by runoff (wash).

Results on the carbon and nutrient dynamics of the rainfed crops and the Paraserianthes tree plantation will be published separately (e.g. Van Dijk et al., accepted).

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CHAPTER 2 - INTRODUCTION On the basis of this process knowledge and additional runoff flume experiments, the TEST model (for Terrace Erosion and Sediment Transport) is developed to simulate runoff and sediment yield as a function of terrace geometry and management. The model is described, calibrated and tested in Chapters 12 and 13, using three seasons of runoff and sediment yield measurements from a total of 29 erosion plots comprising sections of terrace risers and beds as well as from six entire bench terrace units, all with contrasting amounts and types of vegetative and soil surface cover. To facilitate the use of the model ways were sought to reduce the amount and detail of data needed, particularly with regard to rainfall intensity (Chapter 11). In Chapter 14, the TEST model is used in combination with digital terrain analysis to simulate runoff and sediment yield from an entire terraced hillslope. The model results are compared with measurements of runoff and sediment yield from a 4 ha sub-catchment scale made since 1998, with a neighbouring sub-catchment of equal size added since 1999. Additional observations included the regular monitoring of changes in the volume of eroded material in temporary storage (e.g. deposited in depressions or trapped behind obstacles) but liable to be re-entrained during intense storms. Such observations are essential for understanding the discrepancies between on-site erosion (determined for individual terraces) and offsite sediment delivery (measured at the (sub-)catchment scale) such as those encountered during the earlier phase of the project (Purwanto, 1999). Finally, in Chapters 15 and 16 the main conclusions emerging from the present work are summarised, followed by a discussion of the remaining research needs and the implications for future soil rehabilitation programmes in West Java.

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