Pekarangan
Along with their subsistence and commercial uses, they are used for social interactions and yield sharing and provide materials for cultural ceremonies and religious practices.
Home gardens of this kind may have existed for several thousand years, but their first mention is found in a Javanese chronicle that was written in 860 AD.
Throughout the history of Java, pekarangans have been of little interest to the governments that have ruled the island due to their minimal susceptibility to yield extraction.
In the 2010s, they have gained the attention of the Indonesian government implemented through P2KP (Percepatan Penganekaragaman Konsumsi Pangan), a program focused on urban and peri-urban areas that aims to optimize production with a sustainable approach.
Euis Novitasari considers "pekarangan" to be a form of land use: a system of small-scale additional food production by members and a family, that is also an ecosystem with a densely layered canopy.
Simatupang and Suryana argue that it is hard to define "pekarangan" clearly, since its role can vary as a form of farmland to a homestead plot.
[8] Trees are one of the most common components of home gardens, contributing to the image of Indonesian countryside with houses less visible than the "dense, forest mimics" of pekarangans.
Other common domestic animals kept in pekarangans are fishes in ponds and songbirds (e.g. zebra dove, Geopelia striata), which are kept in cages on bamboo poles.
[17][18] A similar finding was repeated in a separate West Java study, indicating children shoot birds in the gardens and take their eggs while adults kill or chase them due to the perception of them as pests.
[20] These include environmental stability, the tropical climate that is favorable to plant growth, and their close proximity to the owners' domestic activities.
[24] The biodiversity in the multi-layered system also helps to optimize solar energy and carbon harvesting, cool the domestic climate, protect the soil from erosion, and accommodate habitats for wild plants and animals.
The role of plant canopies in consistently producing organic litter is believed to be more important in reducing erosion than its direct speed-reducing effects on raindrops.
[46] Products from pekarangans have multiple uses; for example, a coconut tree can provide food, oil, fuel, and building materials, and also be used in rituals and ceremonies.
[47] In urban and suburban areas, major fruit production centers, and tourist destination regions, pekarangans tend to act as an income generator.
[34] Integrated with local customs and philosophies such as rukun and tri-hita-karana, the gardens aid other social interactions such as yield-sharing, ceremonies, and religious activities.
For the same reason, matriarchal culture around the gardens started to develop, such as the requirement for the permission of a landowner's wife before selling a plot of land they own—this happens in cities like Tegal.
[62] The philosophy of living harmoniously, referred to as rukun, is followed by the Javanese and Sundanese; offering yields from pekarangans to others is believed to be the medium of such culture.
Wayang puppet plays depict forests as "places where wild animals and evil spirits reign" and its clearing, which is done only by men who are believed to have spiritual powers, is viewed as a respectable deed.
The front yard is called buruan, a space for a garden shed, ornamental plants, fruit trees, a children's playground, benches, and crop-drying.
[65] Balinese pekarangans are influenced by the philosophy of tri-hita-karana that divides spaces into parahyangan (top, head, pure), pawongan (middle, body, neutral), and palemahan (below, feet, impure).
The parahyangan area of a Balinese pekarangan faces Mount Agung, which is regarded as a sacred place (prajan) to pray (sanggah).
[54] Balinese back yards, which are known in Tabanan and Karangasem as teba, are used as a place to cultivate crops and keep livestock for subsistence, commercial, and religious use as offerings.
[69][70][71] Other elements of taneyan lanjhang include roma (house), kobung or langghar (Islamic prayer room/musalla), dapor (kitchen), kandang (livestock cage), plant fences, a warehouse, a pair of well and water basin, and outdoor bathrooms.
[71] The spatial composition of taneyan lanjhang is laid out according to the bappa, babbhu, guru, rato (father, mother, teacher, leader) philosophy that shows the order of respected figures in Madurese culture.
[6][82] Soemarwoto and Conway proposed that early forms of pekarangan date back to several thousand years ago but the first-known record of them is a Javanese charter from 860.
[84] In the eighteenth century, Javanese pekarangans had already so influenced West Java that they had partly replaced talun (a local form of mixed gardens) there.
The economic growth helped increase the numbers of middle-class and upper-class families, resulting in better life and higher demand for quality products, including fruits and vegetables.
[43] The Indonesian government launched a campaign in October 1951, namely Karang Kitri, which aimed to persuade communities to plant trees in their home gardens and other types of land.
[88] Since the early 2010s, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, runs a pekarangan development program named Percepatan Penganekaragaman Konsumsi Pangan (P2KP, "Acceleration on Food Diversification") that is focused in urban and semi-urban areas.
The program applies its agenda to a concept named Kawasan Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL; "Sustainable Food Houses Region"[89]).
