Management Strategy for Private Forest development in Rancakalong District, Sumedang Regency

Abstract

Wood is one of the natural resources needed by humans. The high growth rate of the human population causes an increase in demand for wood. Currently, one of the largest timber producers in West Java is private forests. Fulfillment of high demand for wood should be balanced with good management, so that is not to threat private forest sustainability. One of the areas with the private forest that is still actively undertaking private forest management activities is in Rancakalong District, Sumedang Regency. This study aims to identify the current management practice of private forests and to formulate sustainable development strategies. The data was collected through questionnaires and interviews, field observation, and secondary data collection. The respondent number of private forest farmers was 98 respondents. Snowball sampling techniques were used to interview government officials, middlemen or wood dealers. The analysis results at the input have an internal total score of 2.7, which shows the condition is at the medium stage and external total score of 3.17, which shows the public response to threats and opportunities are strong enough. At the matching stage, the result is that the management of private forest is the second quadrant, which means that the private forest is entering the growth stage. The study result shows that the first priority to be implemented in the Rancakalong private forest is to establish farmer organizations.

Keywords: private forest, management, strategic, Rancakalong