Productivity of smallholder oil palm plantations is low and efforts to improve it face increasing challenges with the increasing negative impacts of climate change. This study aims to determine the technical culture components of soil and water conservation management and the level of implementation between plasma farmers and independent farmers. Purposive sampling was used to determine farmer respondents from plasma farmers (one farmer group) and independent farmers (two farmer groups) with oil palm planted in 2009-2011. The research was conducted in Kotabaru, South Kalimantan. The results were analyzed descriptively. The results showed that farmers have implemented adaptive farming practices to deal with drought and flood risks. These include weed and understory vegetation management; fertilization and crown management (pruning); utilization of pruned fronds and empty fruit bunches as mulch and source of organic matter; fruit bunch harvesting cycle; fire management; and crop integration during immature crops and early producing crops of oil palm. Generally, these technical cultural practices are applied more by plasma smallholders who have been receiving guidance and technical assistance from the nucleus company than by independent smallholders who have been assisted to a limited extent by extension workers or intermediary traders (toke).

Index Terms- climate change impacts; agronomic practices; smallholder farmers