Dayak Farming System

The Dayak farming system is land rich but poor in cash and consumer goods. In Dayak villages, one of the main features that distinguish wealthy households from the poor is cash earnings from bananas, which account for nearly 50% of the total income earned by wealthier households. For moderate and poorer households, rubber is the main source of cash income, either through own production or share tapping, whereas the rubber income earned by wealthier households comes from rubber trading. Wealthier households also differ from the lower stratum in terms of the amount of land owned, the number and type of off-farm activities (high percentage of income from salaries, trading and rice milling), type of housing and ownership of other assets such as a motorbike. Chickens are kept in small numbers by most households except the poorest.

In terms of wealth distribution, the average upper stratum household, who represents just 6% of the population, earns over Rp5 million per year. Moderate households, who constitute less than 30% of all households, earn less than Rp1 million per year. Poorer households, who are the majority (nearly 70%), earn less than Rp500,000 per year, which puts them at the GOI poverty line