Indonesian food production depends highly on Java Island, which holds the most fertile soils in the country but had limited area. The objective of the research was to analyse the availability of suitable land for agriculture in Tuban Regency, an agricultural regency in Java Island. Land suitability was evaluated with spatial multicriteria analysis, integrating soil order, land capability, elevation, slope, slope direction, land use/land cover, accessibility, and climate. Land availability was analysed, integrating the forest area status designation and the spatial pattern of regional official land use plan. The results indicated that suitable land for agriculture corresponds to 91% of the total study area, confirming the high soil fertility. Analysis of land availability then indicated that 18% of the area was both suitable and available for agriculture. Considering the actual land utilization, the future development of agriculture in the region has less than 7% of the land area left for agricultural expansion. The overall results showed the importance of looking for land allocated for agriculture outside Java Island to anticipate the need for food of a country with a high population growth rate and also developing planning for food production.

Indonesia requires a considerable increase in rice production in the future to keep pace with rapid population growth. Increased production can be done through the specific location-based inputs provision. This study aimed to map land resources in Subang Regency, West Java Province, at a scale of 1:25,000, to evaluate land suitability on any land mapping units and to recommend local specific inputs for paddy fields. The methodology used included land mapping unit delineation, delineation of existing paddy fields using SPOT-6 imagery, soil sampling and laboratory analysis, and land suitability evaluation for the paddy fields. The results showed that in Subang Regency, most paddy fields still allow for intensification through the provision of inputs that are location specific. In the case of the Subang Regency, the local specific inputs include provision of organic matter, provision of lime, provision of N, P and K fertilizer, and construction of irrigation infrastructure. Using the Geographic Information System, the location where the input is necessary can be given in detail. Moreover, beyond the existing paddy field, there are still areas where actual land use is not paddy field but are identified as having potential for the development of paddy fields. As in the case of existing paddy fields, such areas require local specific inputs according to land characteristics that differ from one place to another and can be spatially delineated.

Indonesian national food sovereignty is very dependent on the supply of rice from paddy fields in Java Island. Various factors influence the farmer’s decision to continue using his farm. This study aims to analyze the sustainable use of paddy field, determinant factors and strategies for improving sustainability. The study was conducted in Karawang Regency, one of the centers of rice production in West Java. The methodology used is a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) using 43 attributes of 5 dimensions (ecological, social, economical, technological and legal and institutional dimension). Against the sensitive attribute analysis resulting from MDS, a prospective analysis was conducted to determine the key factors of sustainability. Priority policies for improving sustainability are developed based on the location of the key factors in the prospective diagram. The research results showed that the land utilization for paddy field in Karawang is actually less sustainable. Increasing the sustainability can be done through intervention and improving performance, preferably on sensitive attributes resulting from leverage analysis, covering 16 attributes. Priority policies is directed in the 5 key factors resulting from prospective analysis. Policies suggested are the tightening of new permits for building, strict implementation of the official spatial land use planning and delineation of agricultural land for sustainable food crops, counseling the community, revitalizing the role of BULOG, provision of subsidies as well as capital assistance to farmers.

Commodity development requires site selection which should be established prior to large scale development. The land suitability criteria for cashew are not presently available. The relationship between the biophysical aspects, especially land and soil with commodity productivity, is also not known in depth. The objective of this study is to establish the criteria of land suitability for cashew in Indonesia, based on its production and land characteristics. Cashew plantations in 5 provinces were sampled. The data of production per tree per year were obtained from farmers, while the soil was sampled and analyzed in the laboratory. Age-adjusted cashew production was used as the yield response and plotted against land characteristics. Boundary lines resulting from the scatter of points were described; these lines produced the limits of land suitability criteria. The criteria were established using a projection of the intersection between the boundary line and yield interval. The criteria were also built in accordance with the productivity index of FAO for the internal boundary inside the S (suitable) class and by calculating the break-event point production for the boundary between S (suitable) and N (nonsuitable) order. The main result of this research is land suitability criteria for cashew.

The complexity of regional disparity has encouraged viewing this issue from various perspectives, one of which is the role of physical geography in disparity. On Java Island, an observation on the role of geographical aspect is needed due to the spatial sturdiness of disparity. This study aims to provide quantitative proof that differences in the physical geography of Java’s regions account for the persistent regional disparity. We applied two approaches namely correlation and typology, employing data of physical geographical attributes and development level. The methods used were correlation analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and one-way ANOVA. Based on the correlation approach, we found the association of regional development level with terrain ruggedness, soil parent materials, sea depth, elevation, and precipitation. Then, based on endowment-based typology approach, Java’s regions could be grouped into lowland, volcanic, old volcanic, and calcareous dry regions. The two latter performed poorly in all socio-economic indicators examined.

Bontang is the youngest city in East Kalimantan which focused to industrial sector. As the industry city, Bontang has been growing rapidly especially for population and regional development. This study was aimed to (a) identified land use in Bontang at 2002, 2009 and 2016 (b) analyze land use change and land use prediction in 2023 (c) evaluate land suitability and availability for settlement and (d) to estimate the land required for settlement in Bontang. The research was conducted by overlay method, matching system based on minimum limiting factor and descriptive analysis. Results analysis showed that actual land use in Bontang (2016) was dominated by bush, forest, mangrove, settlement, industry and plantation area. Dominant land use change (2002-2016) in Bontang was forest to bush. The area of settlement in 2016 was about 1.770 ha and predicted to be the highest increased compared to other land use in 2023. Land suitability analysis showed that 4.864 ha or 30,71% of this region was in suitable class fo settlement. The availability of suitable land settlement exclude the existing was about 941,5 ha, which could meet the needs of settlement up to 2050.