Indonesia plays a vital role as a country as one of the leading natural rubber producing countries in the world. Indonesia contributes 26% of the world's total natural rubber production, ranking second only to Thailand. Indonesia is recorded as having a total rubber plantation area of ​​3.67 million hectares, with production reaching 3.63 million tons in 2018. Smallholders mostly manage the total rubber area with a percentage reaching 85%, followed by the private estate at 9%, and government estate covering 6%. Natural rubber production also shows the same pattern, most of the total production is contributed by smallholders at 83%, followed by the private estate at 10%, and government estate at 7%. These results indicate that smallholders are still experiencing low productivity of the rubber plants they manage. This is due to the low quality of planting materials used by smallholders. Besides, there are still many rubber plants managed by smallholders that need replanting. The Indonesian government, through the Directorate General of Estate Crops, is targeting to carry out replanting activities for rubber plants covering an area of ​​approximately 700 thousand hectares in the 2018-2025 period.

Indonesian rubber farmers have long been practising rubber cultivation with the agroforestry system (RAS). However, RAS productivity is still very low, at only 1.16 kg/ha/year. Several types of RAS that have been practised by farmers in Indonesia are jungle rubber with non-selected material, long-term rubber-based agroforestry with perennial crops (Shorea, teak, coffee, cocoa, etc.), rubber-based agroforestry with food crops (banana, sugarcane, pineapple, rice, chilli, tubers, etc.) during the immature period, and double rows of rubber trees separated by wide spacing for food intercrops.

RAS needs to be developed to increase income diversification for smallholders to increase economic resilience. Besides, there is no impact of agroforestry practices on rubber production as long as no trees above rubber canopy. Another benefit of RAS is that it encourages local biodiversity reservoirs, less soil erosion and better use of water, and is more globally environmental friendly.

There are still challenges that need to be faced in the context of the development and sustainability of RAS. The first challenge is that rubber production price fluctuation and the current low rubber price reduce the rubber cultivation's attractiveness in a context of higher and higher labour cost. Second, the low capacity of technology transfer to smallholders affects the productivity of plantations dramatically. Third, environmental degradation and climate change call for urgent actions to adapt and plant material and production systems. The last challenge is a participatory breeding programme with smallholders that are expected to improve the resilience of rubber plantations.