Local Wisdom of the Community of Rambangaru Village, Sumba District, East Nusa Tenggara East in the Cultivation of Sandalwood Plants (Santalum Album L.)

Abstract

The sandalwood plant (Santalum album L.) originates from the Indonesian islands in the southeast, mainly on Timor Island and Sumba Island, according to some experts. It is one of the 25 tribes of the Santalaceae and is spread throughout Asia. The communities in the village of Rambangaru are very helpful to the government of East Nusa Tenggara Province with the conservation, cultivation, exploitation, and processing of sandalwood. The Haharu community hopes to support their efforts to preserve and grow sandalwood plants both outdoors and in the courtyard. Sandalwood is an important plant for local communities in Rambangaru Village, Haharu district, and therefore needs further conservation efforts. The aim of the research is to explain the cultivation techniques of sandalwood plants (Santalum album L.) in Rambangaru village in Haharu district of East Sumba. The qualitative method is a paradigm for describing an event or a society's behavior in detail and in depth in the form of a narrative. The results of the research showed that the cultivation technique of sandalwood plants in the village of Rambangaru, Haharu district, is a single and double planting technique. The community of Rambangaru village has its own technique for planting sandalwood seedlings. The techniques used are single and double planting. Single planting is done using only one guest plant when sandal wood seedlings are planted, while for dual planting, it takes 2–5 guest plants at the time of planting sandalwood seedlings.