Sustainability evaluation of a smallholder cocoa plantation on the Sebatik Island, Indonesia, using a multidimensional scaling approach

Abstract

The Sebatik Island is one of the main cocoa-producing regions in Indonesia, but its productivity has been reported to be below the potential production volume. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the sustainability index for smallholder cocoa plantations on the Sebatik Island using the multidimensional scaling (MDS), known as the RAP- SEBATIK (rapid appraisal for cocoa on Sebatik Island) that adopts from the RAPFISH (Rapid Appraisal for Fisheries). The MDS was used to evaluate the sustainability status of cocoa across six dimensions, while the leverage analysis was applied to identify the status of the most influential attributes of each dimension. The results showed that the average sustainability index value for such dimensions as ecological, economic, sociocultural, infrastructural and technological, law and institutional, as well as defence and security was 46.23, 48.58, 75.20, 40.49, 36.39, and 36.39%, respectively, based on the current conditions. According to these findings, only the sociocultural dimension was sustainable in smallholder cocoa plantations on the Sebatik Island. The main attributes that need improvement for the sake of sustainability apply to the following dimensions: ecological, economic, sociocultural, infrastructure and technology, law and institutional, as well as defence and security. Attributes that need intervention are the average age of cocoa, the community’s level of formal education, fertilisers application for cocoa, the operation of a shop for agricultural production facilities, and defence and security facilities and infrastructure.