This paper’s working hypothesis is that the indigenous farming practices of Timorese farmers are those most suitable and adaptable with regard to these farmers’ circumstances. Intensive farming and the acceleration of land conversion in Java lead to a reduction in favorable cropland and the degradation of soil biology. To meet the demand for food production, unfavorable areas outside Java, including marginal semi-arid areas on Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara province, have become an important option. Unfortunately, the national crop production policy has paid less attention to the specific biophysical characteristics of the region and how local people have adapted to the diverse marginal environment. We review the literature in the areas of soil nutrition retention and soil biology, vegetation/crop diversity, and farming practices/management, including local wisdom on soil management. This paper highlights that the values of the chemical parameters of the soils in question are varied, but generally range from low to high. The existence of beneficial micro-organisms is important both for improving soil fertility and due to their association with local vegetation/crops. Traditional farming practices, such as the local agroforestry of Mamar, have effectively preserved the existence of micro-organisms that promote conservation practices, crop/vegetation diversity, and sustainable agriculture. We recommend that the expansion of croplands and crop production into marginal semi-arid areas needs to be considered and adapted while taking into consideration sustainability and environmentally sound traditional practices.

Risk and uncertainty in grain crop production are common in marginal semi-arid environments, such as East Nusa Tenggara province. Growing root and tuber crops in a mixed-cropping system is one of the strategies developed by smallholder farmers to substitute food grains and minimize risk. Nevertheless, root and tuber crops are not prioritized for food production systems since food crops in Indonesia are based more on grain and wetland rice production systems. This paper reviews cassava crops, which are widely cultivated by smallholder farmers. This paper contributes to understanding the roles of cassava for smallholder farmers, the diversity of the cassava germ plasm, the progress made to increase cassava productivity, and the potency of cassava crops to improve farmers’ incomes. This paper highlights that, in the low and erratic rainfall of dominant semi-arid regions, the development of cassava is pivotal to secure the harvest of food crops or food availability and income generation for marginal farmers.

Tourism National Product during 2016 – 2017. Tourism development has extended beyond “Bali” Island in Eastern Indonesia in recent years. One of the famous and well-known tourism destinations in Eastern Indonesia is located in Sumba Island. This Island settled Indigenous communities practice Marapu belief system that closed related to the traditional practicing farming that attract Tourism. The paper explores Marapu and farming traditions and how recent Tourism promotions of Sumba Island have shaped rural development and ancient traditions. Data for this study were gathered as part of the first Author study on Farming System Research in Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) province in last 10 years. The study showed that Marapu tradition is still practiced for local communities, however they have been able to incorporate some crops into traditional farming system for the market demand. The paper highlight that mixed-cropping system and diversity of food commodities keeps practiced by local communities of Sumba Island in order to minimize risk in fragile ecosystem. Strategy for Tourism development in Sumba Island should strengthen the local traditions/culture particularly in farming and in the same time protecting local resources/environment.

Dominated semi-arid area of East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) is characterized by low and erratic rainfall, poor soil fertility, diverse agro-ecosystem and dominant rocky lands. Crops production within this environment is generally low and uncertain. This paper aims to describe the impacts of Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices in ENT province. The data and information were mainly taken from FAO and IAARD’ CA collaboration research program implemented in ENT during 2014 to 2018. All farmers involved in the programs acknowledge that CA has increased maize productivity and indeed some farmers have able to plant maize twice a year and experienced good harvest even in long drought. Integrated forage into CA based farming in Timor enable farmers to provide enough feed for cattle at least 1 to 2 head/household. Nevertheless, most farmers showed some constraints in implementing and expanding the introduced CA concepts. The main constraint is lack of labor and equipment to make permanent planting hole in dominated rocky land. CA concepts related to permanent cover crops and mulching have not fully implemented due to crops residues mostly used to feed cattle. The complexity of semi-arid environments and indigenous knowledge of local people in managing semi-arid upland agriculture should be taken into consideration in incorporating suitable induced CA.

Since Cattle introduced in Semi Area of East Nusa Tenggara (ENT), Bali Cattle in Timor Island is considered as the most productive cattle in terms of population. In the last 10 years Bali cattle in West Timor (Indonesia) is around 550,000 – 980,000 head, however the quality/performance of Bali cattle is considered degraded and also native vegetation continuing depleted. Until recently, forage is the main limitation for cattle production in semi-arid region of Timor. This paper discusses cattle farming development in semi-arid region of ENT, how to address the forage shortage and farmers’ response to the introduced cattle-forage innovations. The data and information were mainly taken from the collaboration research program of ACIAR and AIAT-NTT, particularly in Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala Var. Tarramba) development. The study revealed that traditional cattle farming relies on grazing land and abandoned/fallow land during dry season for forage. Fattening systems practiced mainly in the area or farmers that have enough forage, particularly Leucaena. Farmer’s plant Leucaena as part of local agroforestry and or integrated forage into maize farming as main strategy to overcome forage shortage problem. Farmers considered innovation related Leucaena as the best innovation/approach to improve cattle farming in semi-arid area. It is concluded that introduced forage legume, particularly Leucaena in semi-arid areas have increased carrying capacity of pastureland, improved soil fertility and decreased shifting cultivation or encourage more permanent crop land.