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Mount Merapi, located in Indonesia, is known as one of the most active volcanoes globally, often resulting in volcanic eruptions that produce pyroclastic materials. These materials from Mount Merapi’s eruptions have the potential to influence soil fertility in areas affected by the volcanic activities. This study aims to analyze the mineralogical properties of pyroclastic materials from Mount Merapi. The methodology involves collecting pyroclastic material samples from the 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi, followed by analysis using various mineralogical techniques such as polarized microscopy, X-ray diffraction, petrographic analysis, and wet chemical analysis. The findings offer detailed insights into the mineral composition, types of clay minerals, overall elemental presence, and the rock types forming these minerals in the pyroclastic materials. Variations in mineral composition are observed in the pyroclastic materials from Mount Merapi. Predominant minerals, including the plagioclase, pyroxene, and hornblende groups, are distinctly identified. These minerals’ presence suggests their susceptibility to weathering, categorized as easily weatherable minerals. This tendency for weathering is shown by the presence of elements like Na, Ca, and Mg in these minerals, which are crucial macro-nutrients for plant growth.

The eruption of Mount Merapi has had a negative impact on the community; however, on the other hand, it also has positive aspects that cannot be ignored. One of the major benefits associated with the eruption of this mountain is its ability to fertilize and restore the quality of the surrounding soil. This process of soil restoration involves the use of volcanic materials resulting from the eruption, specifically known as rejuvination or soil rejuvenation. In the concept of soil rejuvenation, pyroclastic materials play an important role due to their nutrient-rich content. These pyroclastic materials consist of various types of rocks and minerals, which have great potential to make a positive contribution in providing nutrients needed by plants. Based on the results of X-Ray diffraction analysis, the pyroclastic material from Mount Merapi is dominated by the mineral Albite, accounting for 81.3%. This mineral has the property of being easily weathered and susceptible to weathering agents. Volcanic materials from Mount Merapi can be utilized as agrominerals, this concept involves using volcanic material as a source of nutrients for plants since it contains both macro and micro nutrients required by plants.

Coal fly ash (CFA), a byproduct of coal combustion (CCP) from electric/thermal power plants, was classified as hazardous and toxic waste under Government Regulation Number 104/2014 in Indonesia. However, a significant shift in this regulatory viewpoint developed with the introduction of Government Regulation Number 22/2021. This regulation fundamentally altered the treatment and classification of CFA. Managing CFA as a waste has been both extensive and costly. In various countries where CFA is classified as non-hazardous and non-toxic waste, its utilization spans various sectors. Agriculture is a notable sector benefiting from CFA, as it is applied to soil amendment. As a soil amendment, CFA enhances nutrient availability and soil fertility, promotes plant development, and positively alters soil physical properties. In addition, CFA application to soil improves soil carbon storage, contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This paper aims to review Indonesia's state of CFA utilization before the enactment of Government Regulation Number 22/2021, in order to present insights into the potential for expanded CFA utilization in soil amendment following the new regulation (Government Regulation Number 22/2021).

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Information on land reserves is crucial and required to support agricultural development in relation to increased population pressure, food demand, and food security. This research aims to identify and evaluate idle abandoned land based on biophysical suitability, status of land concessions, and forest areas to determine potential land reserves for agricultural development to support food security in Indonesia. The results show that, at the national level, the area of suitable abandoned lands for agricultural extensification is 27.7 million ha, but most of these lands have concession permits and are located in forest areas, so 12.4 million ha are still available, with the largest area being in dry land. The identification of abandoned land by employing satellite imagery in 54 districts resulted in a smaller acreage compared to abandoned land being mapped formally at 1:250,000. After considering land ownership and forest status, both sources resulted in similar areas at a scale of 1:50,000 and 1:250,000, i.e., 6.1 million ha and 6.0 million ha, respectively. It seems that land ownership and forest status adjusted the total acreage of identified land reserves at different map scales. An area of around 7.4 million ha will be required to meet food demand in 2045 by assuming constant consumption per capita. We found about 1.7 million ha as potential land reserves, most of which are in conversion or production forests areas. Converting forests or utilizing drylands could be potential alternatives to deal with the lack of land for food production. Moreover, due to limited wetlands, the use of reserve land in that agroecological zone should be in accordance with its designation, comply with the priority principles, and be supported by government regulations and policies, so that food security can be maintained until 2045. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problems encountered in the management of upland acid soils, besides soil pH, are also low in phosphorus (P) content and less available to plants. The addition of organic acids (OAs) to the direct application of phosphate rock (PR) has not been widely studied yet and is expected to improve upland acid soil properties. The research aims to determine the effect of adding OAs on the direct application of PR to improve upland acid soil and increase maize yield. It was a greenhouse experiment using a randomized complete design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The treatments consisted of four types of OA (citric, humic, succinic, and oxalic acid) and five OA concentration levels (0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 ppm). The hybrid maize (Zea mays L) was used as the test crop. The parameters observed were soil properties (pH, exchangeable H (H+), exchangeable Al (Al3+), exchangeable Ca (Ca2+), cation exchange capacity (CEC), available P (as P-Bray1)) and maize growth (plant heights and yield). The results show that the types of OA treatments had no significant effect on soil properties and maize yield; in contrast, the concentrations of OA levels were able to improve soil properties as indicated by a significant effect on pH, H+, Al3+, Ca2+, CEC, available P, and increased maize yield. An increase in soil pH due to the addition of OAs to the direct application of PR could increase Ca2+ and CEC and decrease Al3+ and H+, while increasing available P for plants. Although not significantly different, oxalic acid was able to improve the observed soil properties and maize yield, followed by citric, humic, and succinic acids. The maximum OA concentration was 126.9 ppm. We can say that the main finding of this research is that oxalic, citric, humic, and succinic acids at a concentration of 126 ppm can be applied to phosphate rock. In Indonesia, humic acid has been widely applied by farmers because it is easy to obtain. Therefore, it can be applied to phosphate rock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social forestry (SF) has long been implemented in production and protected forests in Indonesia. SF is considered to be a win–win solution for occupied and cultivated forest areas. The aim of this paper was to review the implementation of social forestry in Indonesia and its strengths and challenges. The secondary purpose was to synthesize the lessons learned and recommendations for the government about designing SF that can integrate the objective of forest biodiversity conservation and the social welfare of the surrounding communities. The study used a systematic literature review (SLR) of international and national peer-reviewed articles. The results of the study indicate that SF is intended to achieve benefits in three main areas: social, economic, and ecological. However, the review found that the ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation often receive less attention compared to the social and economic goals. A strong point of SF implementation is increasing community access to forest land use, while a challenge that must be resolved is that including communities in forest management can result in fragmentation and changes to animal habitats; thus, there is the potential for population decline and extinction. This study advises policymakers to pay more attention to ecological functions to ensure forest sustainability in SF development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indonesian land area is 191.1 million ha, part of which is abandoned land in various agroecosystems that have the potential for expanding the agricultural area. The purpose of this research was to geospatially analyze abandoned land based on its agroecosystem at the national and district levels, as well as to evaluate the land suitability of the land for expanding agricultural development. The methods included: (1) geospatial analysis of the national land cover map at a scale of 1:250,000 combined with soil and climate information to identify abandoned land and examine its agroecosystem, (2) selecting representative districts in each agroecosystem for visual interpretation using high-resolution imagery, i.e., SPOT 6/7, (3) assessing the land suitability of abandoned land for agricultural development at the national and district levels, and (4) predicting national abandoned land and its land suitability. The essential finding is the identification of abandoned land at around 42.6 million ha in Indonesia distributed over six agroecosystems, with the widest being in dry lowland and wet climates. Then, 54 districts were selected to characterize abandoned land by using SPOT 6/7 high-resolution imagery and were interpreted visually. It was found that the abandoned land covered approximately 16.9 million ha. The distribution of abandoned land from the interpretation of satellite imagery was smaller than that of geospatial analysis due to differences in the map scale and the use of ancillary data. The identification of abandoned land from high-resolution imagery should be carried out for all regions of Indonesia to accurately map the distribution of the abandoned land and characterize the properties. However, it requires a large amount of time, cost, and facilities to complete the inventory. The geospatial analysis that combined imageries and ancillary data identified 27.7 million ha of abandoned land suitable for expanding the agricultural area. The largest suitable abandoned land for the purpose was found in the lowlands with a wet climate, especially in Papua, Kalimantan, and Sumatra islands. The identified suitable abandoned land of 54 districts differed by scale, in which it was 11.2 million ha at the scale of 1:250,000 and 8.5 million ha at the scale of 1:50,000, respectively. The potential land expansion for food crops, particularly paddy fields, was only 2.2 million ha, located in mineral swamp land, which was predominantly located in Papua, with inadequate accessibility. Expanding paddy fields for national food security in the future would be constrained by less suitable land resources, while the near future challenge is the competition of land allocation for agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, as well as for food crops and plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]