Agroforestry is often seen as a sustainable land-use system for agricultural production providing ecosystem services. Intercropping with food crops leads to equal or higher productivity than monoculture and results in food production for industry and subsistence. Low rubber price and low labor productivity in smallholdings have led to a dramatic conversion of rubber plantations to more profitable crops. The literature analysis performed in this paper aimed at better understanding the ins and outs that could make rubber-based agroforestry more attractive for farmers. A comprehensive search of references was conducted in March 2023 using several international databases and search engines. A Zotero library was set up consisting of 415 scientific references. Each reference was carefully read and tagged in several categories: cropping system, country, main tree species, intercrop type, intercrop product, level of product use, discipline of the study, research topic, and intercrop species. Of the 232 journal articles, 141 studies were carried out on rubber agroforestry. Since 2011, the number of studies per year has increased. Studies on rubber-based agroforestry systems are performed in most rubber-producing countries, in particular in Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Brazil. These studies focus more or less equally on perennials (forest species and fruit trees), annual intercrops, and mixed plantations. Of the 47 annual crops associated with rubber in the literature, 20 studies dealt with rice, maize, banana, and cassava. Agronomy is the main discipline in the literature followed by socio-economy and then ecology. Only four papers are devoted to plant physiology and breeding. The Discussion Section has attempted to analyze the evolution of rubber agroforestry research, progress in the selection of food crop varieties adapted to agroforestry systems, and to draw some recommendations for rubber-based agroforestry systems associated with food crops.

Pendapatan petani dan perusahaan perkebunan karet belum optimal karena harga komoditi karet fluktuatif. Diversifikasi usaha menjadi salah satu strategi untuk meningkatkan produktivitas lahan dan nilai ekonomi perkebunan karet. Tujuan tulisan review iniadalah (1) mendeskripsikan strategi peningkatan nilai tambah perkebunan karet melalui diversifikasi usaha, (2) menyajikan sistem tumpangsari berbasis karet, integrasi karet-ternak, pemanfaatan biji karet, ekstraksi protein lateks, dan pemanfaatan kayu karet sebagai alternatif untuk memperoleh keuntungan yang optimal.Jarak tanam yang renggang dapat dimanfaatkan sebagai sumber pendapatan dengan pola tumpangsari selama tanaman belum menghasilkan (TBM).Peningkatan nilai tambah lainnya dapat dilakukan dengan integrasi karet-ternakmemanfaatkan gulma di areal perkebunan karet sebagai pakan. Endosperm biji karet dapat diolah menjadi tepung pakan dan biodiesel, sedangkan cangkang biji dapat diproses menjadi karbon aktif yang memiliki nilai ekonomis tinggi. Pemanfaatan sumberdaya non-lateks selain meningkatkan nilai tambah kebun, juga dapat digunakan sebagai alternatif sumber pendapatan untuk meminimalisir dampak harga karet yang rendah.

Agroforestry is often seen as a sustainable land-use system for agricultural production providing ecosystem services. Intercropping with food crops leads to equal or higher productivity than monoculture and results in food production for industry and subsistence. Low rubber price and low labor productivity in smallholdings have led to a dramatic conversion of rubber plantations to more profitable crops. The literature analysis performed in this paper aimed at better understanding the ins and outs that could make rubber-based agroforestry more attractive for farmers. A library was set-up consisting of 415 scientific references. Of the 232 journal articles, 141 studies were carried out on rubber agroforestry. Since 2011, the number of studies per year has increased. Studies on rubber-based agroforestry systems are performed in most rubber producing countries, in particular in Indonesia, Thailand, China and Brazil. These studies focus more or less equally on perennials (forest species and fruit trees), annual intercrops and mixed plantations. Of the 47 annual crops associated with rubber in the literature, 20 studies dealt with rice, maize, banana and cassava. Agronomy is the main discipline in the literature followed by socio-economy and then ecology. Only 4 papers are devoted to plant physiology and breeding. The discussion section has attempted to analyze the evolution of rubber agroforestry research, progress in the selection of food crop varieties adapted to agroforestry systems, and to draw some recommendations for rubber-based agroforestry systems associated with food crops.

Indonesia is one of the major natural rubber-producing countries. The low rubber prices severely affect rubber agribusiness as farmers and rubber companies depend on latex as the only source of income. This condition leads to an unprecedented challenge to rubber agribusiness sustainability. This systematic review aims to encourage the use of part of rubber plants as a source of revenue for rubber plantations to maintain their sustainability. Non-latex parts of the rubber plant can be utilized, including latex serum and skim waste, parts of rubber seeds, and rubberwood. The strength of the ancillary product of Hevea brasiliensis is that the raw materials are abundant, yet the weakness is that the rubber companies have no experience exploiting them. The opportunity for utilizing is widely open, as many methods have been researched; however, the main thread is how to compete with the existing products. Therefore, careful market research and feasibility studies are recommended.

Penggunaan stimulan gas dapat menjadi alternatif untuk mengoptimalkan produksi tanaman. Mekanisme kerja stimulan gas etilen hampir sama dengan etefon. Perbedaannya adalah pada stimulan etefon bahan aktif terhidrolisis dalam jaringan tanaman menghasilkan gas etilen, sedangkan pada stimulan gas langsung diberikan dalam bentuk gas etilen. Beberapa hasil pengujian menunjukkan bahwa stimulan gas lebih tepat digunakan pada klon slow starter (SS) yang sudah dewasa dengan irisan ke arah atas pada kulit perawan. Penggunaan gas etilen pada tanaman muda maupun pada kulit pulihan tidak memberikan peningkatan produksi yang signifikan. Penyesuaian tata guna panel pada tanaman produktif dapat diadopsi dari tata guna panel klon SS dengan penggunaan stimulan gas etilen memasuki tahun ke-16 dengan irisan S/4U d/3.ETG. Penggunaan teknologi ini harus diikuti dengan penyesuaian sistem pendukung seperti manajemen hanca, peningkatan pengamanan, manajemen pengumpulan hasil, pemeliharaan alat, isi ulang gas dan pemindahan aplikator. Dengan pertimbangan kestabilan produksi dan umur ekonomis tanaman, penggunaan stimulan gas pada tanaman tua (2-3 tahun menjelang diremajakan) dinilai lebih realistis untuk diterapkan.

Produktivitas tanaman karet (Hevea brasiliensis)dipengaruhi oleh sifat iklim pada suatu kawasan. Faktor iklim mencakup curah hujan dan distribusinya, suhu, panjang penyinaran, evaporasi, dan kecepatan angin. Perbedaan iklim berkaitan dengan letak geografi suatu kawasan. Umumnya, negara penghasil karet alam yang berada di utara khatulistiwamemiliki pola produksi rendah pada bulan Februari – April dan produksi tertinggi pada bulan Oktober – Desember, sedangkan kawasan yang berada di selatan khatulistiwa memiliki pola produksi rendah pada bulan Agustus – Januari danproduksi tinggi terjadi pada bulan Februari – Juli. Peningkatan produksi umumnya terjadi pada musim hujan dan penurunan produksi disebabkan adanya siklus gugur daun, pembentukan daun, pembungaan, dan pembentukan buah. Faktor iklim yang dapat menjadi sebagai faktor pembatas produksi dapat diantisipasi dengan pendenkatan kultur teknis budidaya seperti spesifikasi klon dan penerapan teknologi budidaya.