Open AccessStepping up from subsistence to commercial intensive farming to enhance welfare of farmer households in Indonesia
Author(s) -
Mariyono Joko
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
asia and the pacific policy studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2050-2680
DOI - 10.1002/app5.276
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , welfare , agriculture , profit (economics) , intensive farming , business , government (linguistics) , production (economics) , contract farming , organic farming , economics , agricultural economics , marketing , agricultural science , market economy , microeconomics , geography , environmental science , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
This article assesses the welfare impact of intensive chilli farming and determines the factors motivating farmers to engage in commercial farming. This study uses a structural equation model that measures the direct and indirect effects of explanatory variables on intensive chilli production and welfare. This study uses data of field surveys of randomly selected 220 farmers in three regions of Java. The results show that stepping up to intensive and profit‐oriented farming improved farmers' welfare. Internal and external factors, directly and indirectly, affected farmers' decision to devote more resources to commercial chilli farming. Farmers' knowledge, as well as access to credit, technology adoption, marketplace, and traders, played significant roles in improving rural welfare. The government needs to reform marketing system of horticultural products and establish market infrastructures to accommodate oversupply during peak season. Easy and flexible credit should be available and accessible to farmers, with technology applicable to such agriculture.