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Plantations, Recherche, Développement, VOL. 6, N° 4/99

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Plantations, Recherche, Développement, VOL. 6, N° 4/99 Retour au menu 219 H ÉVÉA n Indonésie El’hévéaculture Historique a connu un important des innovations développement par les agroforêts techniques à hévéa, puis par les projets en hévéaculture en monoculture à partir et dynamiques des années 70. Les années 90 paysannes sont caractérisées en Indonésie par l’acceptation des pratiques agroforestières Penot E. et des recherches CIRAD-TERA, BP 5035, 34032 Montpellier Cedex 1, France sur les systèmes agroforestiers à base de clones qui pourraient ’hévéa a été initialement introduit en introduites en Indonésie qui ont eu un tel favoriser Asie du Sud-Est pour développer une effet économique sur la situation des pay- L activité économique dans les colonies sans que l’hévéa ». anglaises et néerlandaises sur un produit Une dynamique constante de plantation une adoption dont la demande industrielle est très forte. a été lancée et elle ne s’est pas encore arrê- A l’origine, les plantations établies à partir tée à ce jour. Une dynamique d’innovations à large échelle de matériel végétal non sélectionné concer- techniques a accompagné ce développe- ne les estates ou grandes plantations. Mais ment de l’hévéaculture. des clones. très vite, les paysans locaux vont voir dans l’hévéa une opportunité de culture très intéressante, s’intégrant bien dans les sys- Origine du matériel tèmes traditionnels basés sur l’agriculture végétal introduit en Asie itinérante. Le jungle rubber a eu un déve- du Sud-Est loppement gigantesque pour finalement supplanter en surface le secteur des estates En 1855, Thomas Hancock (Dijkman, 1951) dès le milieu des années 30. est le premier à suggérer la possibilité de Comme le rappelle déjà Van Gelder en planter de l’hévéa en Orient afin de diversi- 1950 « il n’y a pas eu d’autres cultures fier les sources de production essentielle- Juillet - Août 1999 Plantations, recherche, développement 220 Retour au menu H ÉVÉA ment basées sur l’extractivisme dans les Finalement, 99 % des plantations en Asie Le développement forêts amazoniennes réalisé par les serin- du Sud-Est et en Afrique proviennent direc- des jungle rubber gueiros, collecteurs du caoutchouc qui for- tement des 22 plants asiatiques survivants ment une paysannerie très pauvre et introduits à partir de la collection Wick- En 1902, la première plantation industriel- exploitée. ham. La plupart des clones sélectionnés le en Indonésie est établie à Sumatra Nord, Il s’agit pour les anglais, à l’époque actuels proviennent de cette population et en 1904 à Java (Bogor). En raison du maîtres du commerce international, d’une génétiquement réduite mais suffisante développement de l’automobile, le prix du part de sécuriser sur le plan stratégique les pour générer un peuplement relativement caoutchouc est alors si attractif qu’entre sources de production de caoutchouc et, important et diversifié. Une quarantaine de 1909 et 1912 (Van Gelder, 1950) les plan- d’autre part, de permettre un développe- clones sont actuellement utilisés à large tations se multiplient en Indonésie, ment économique par des plantations en échelle dans les plantations. et l’hévéa devient la deuxième culture Asie du Sud et du Sud Est, à l’époque terri- C’est exclusivement le secteur capitaliste en superficie derrière la canne à sucre3 toires coloniaux. Plusieurs tentatives des grandes plantations, soutenues par (figure 1). Globalement, le prix attractif du d’envoi de graines et de transplantation de quelques grosses sociétés nationales, qui a caoutchouc se maintient jusqu’en 1922. plants en Asie échouent dans la seconde contribué à l’introduction, puis au dévelop- L’hévéa apparaît alors aussi comme une moitié du XIXe siècle. En Indonésie, des pement de l’hévéaculture pendant les 20 opportunité de culture très intéressante envois sont réalisés en 1891, 1896, 1898 premières années en Indonésie. On retrou- pour les petits planteurs locaux, car la (via Paris), 1913 (collection Cramer) et vera une situation identique au Vietnam, au plante s’insère bien dans les systèmes de 1915, mais aucun des arbres ne fut multi- Cambodge et au Sri Lanka. plié en raison de leurs rendements très En Thaïlande, en revanche, il n’y a pas 2 Les efforts entrepris par le secteur privé (Ford entre faibles (Wysherley, 1968). de secteur « grandes plantations » et autres) dans les années 20 à 40 pour l’établissement de En 1876, Henry Wickham, aventurier l’expansion de l’hévéa a été le fait des grandes plantations au Brésil se sont soldées par des anglais installé au Brésil, affrète un navire petits planteurs uniquement, avec un déca- échecs cuisants. Les centres de recherche brésiliens ont produit des clones plus ou moins tolérants, à potentiel de pour ramener 70 000 graines en Angleterre, lage dans le temps. production limité (1 000-1 500 kg/ha/an) qui autorisent un qui seront immédiatement mises à germer Durant la même période, la présence développement limité de l’hévéaculture en zone de en pépinière. L’année suivante, 2 397 plants d’une maladie des feuilles liée à un cham- Microcyclus. Il existe également des zones « escapes » survivants de la collection Wickham, dont pignon, le Microcyclus ulei, a empêché sans Microcyclus. 3,4 % seulement des graines ont germé, tout développement de l’hévéa en grande 3 En 1905, les plantations industrielles couvrent une sont envoyés de Kew (Royaume-Uni) en plantation en Amérique du Sud car il superficie de 1 338 ha, puis 104 413 ha cinq ans plus tard, montrant ainsi le formidable développement de l’hévéa Asie (Sri Lanka, Malaisie), parmi lesquels n’existe pas de moyen de lutte pour les soutenu par une très forte demande. Jusqu’en 1913 cette 2 18 arriveront au jardin botanique de Bogor plantations adultes . Le développement de superficie va doubler (200 278 ha), mais il faudra (Indonésie) le 16 octobre 1876. En 1898, plantations en Afrique de l’Ouest (Liberia, 12 années supplémentaires pour doubler à nouveau les ces plants arrivent à maturité et produisent Côte d’Ivoire) et centrale (Nigeria, Came- superficies (415 167 ha en 1925), puis une nouvelle des graines qui sont replantées, données roun) a commencé dans les années 50. accélération avec plus de un million d’hectares, en 1928. La superficie des petits planteurs dépasse celle des estates gratuitement ou vendues. Il semblerait que L’Asie du Sud-Est concentrait l’essentiel de dès 1935. En 1997, la superficie totale cultivée en hévéa seuls deux d’entre eux aient survécu (Fer- la production hévéicole, ce qui est encore atteint 3,5 millions d’hectares (DGE, 1996), dont 84 % pour rand, 1944), et soient à l’origine de planta- vrai aujourd’hui. les petits planteurs. tions dans les environs de Bogor, sur l’île de Java, mais pas de celles situées à Suma- tra et Kalimantan. Les plantations indonésiennes de Su- matra et Kalimantan sont essentielle- ment issues de plants venus de Malaisie en 500 18821 (33 plants de la collection Wickham de Penang) et reçus dans la province de 400 Sumatra Nord où se situe originellement le « Rubber Estate Belt ». Les relations impor- tantes entre Sumatra, Singapour et la 300 Malaisie, dont les écosystèmes sont simi- Areas laires, ont également permis une introduc- 200 tion rapide de ces hévéas dans le reste de l’Indonésie coloniale. De même pour Kali- 100 mantan où les relations commerciales Superficies / (marchands chinois) et les migrations 1914 spontanées sont déjà anciennes. 0 1910 1905 1900 Indochine Inde Bornéo Sri Lanka Indonésie Malaisie Indochina India Borneo Sri Lanka Indonesia Malaysia 1 En 1891, les Hollandais reçoivent de plusieurs sources du matériel d’origine incertaine, puis un nouvel envoi a lieu du Brésil en 1896, via Paris (1898). Mais ces plants ne Figure 1. Développement des plantations d’hévéa en Asie du Sud-Est (en milliers d’hectares). seront ni multipliés, ni plantés. Rubber plantation development in Southeast Asia (in thousands of hectares). Plantations, recherche, développement Juillet - Août 1999 Retour au menu 221 H ÉVÉA production sans modification profonde, Le même système de jungle rubber a du moins au début, des systèmes de donc été développé par les populations culture basés sur l’agriculture itinérante malayu et minangkabau, respectivement à (Dove, 1993). Jambi et Sumatra Ouest, puis par les En effet, l’adoption de l’hévéa s’est faite dayaks à Kalimantan. Un front pionnier par le biais de systèmes agroforestiers, les continu s’est développé et est toujours actif jungle rubber où l’hévéa est laissé en aux marges des bassins traditionnels de concurrence avec la repousse de la forêt développement de l’hévéa que sont les secondaire. L’exploitation des arbres et la grandes plaines autour des principaux saignée débutent 10 à 15 années après la fleuves. plantation. Parallèlement, la forêt secon- Les grandes plantations ont créé l’inno- daire a permis la repousse d’un certain vation : une nouvelle culture, l’hévéa, et un nombre d’espèces économiquement utiles : nouveau produit, le caoutchouc. Sa diffu- les fruitiers locaux — durian (Durio zibe- sion a été rapide en raison de la simplicité thinus), ramboutan (Nephelium lappa- de mise en culture et de la grande disponi- ceum), duku (Lansium domesticum), jac- bilité de matériel végétal non sélectionné, quier (Artocarpus heterophyllus)...—, les les graines ramassées dans les plantations arbres à bois de valeur, le rotin et tous les ayant un coût nul. produits non-ligneux traditionnellement Les facteurs déterminants de cette forte récoltés dans les forêts par les planteurs, expansion du secteur des petits planteurs, en particulier par les dayaks de Kaliman- relativement commune dans les zones de tan. L’agroforêt à hévéa a donc été implan- tropiques humides, sont ceux d’un front tée sans intrants, quasiment sans travail pionnier en constante évolution. Trois (pas d’entretien pendant la période imma- conditions majeures interviennent dans la ture), sans coût et surtout sans risques.
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