THE EFFECT OF TRAINING AND AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS ON FARMER PERFORMANCE (CASE STUDY ON PADDY FARMERS IN MALANG-INDONESIA)
Novi Haryati
Department of Agricultural Socio-economics, Faculty of Agriculture,
Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran Kota Malang Kode Pos 65145
Email: noviharyati[at]ub.ac.id
Abstract
Food security has become a central issue within the framework of Indonesias agricultural development. The problems mostly faced by this country are the uncertainty and instability of national food production happens. Agricultural innovation and training by agricultural extension agents is an effort to increase the skills of knowledge and capabilities of farmers to jointly improve food security. The objectives of this study are: 1) to determine the characteristics of rice farmers, and 2) to understand the relationship of training and innovation to the performance of farmers. This is a descriptive quantitative research that conducted with case studies in Singosari District, Malang Regency Indonesia. The sampling technique was purposive, derived from 30 rice farmers who had received training and counseling from the Singosari Sub-District Extension Education Unit. Primary data was derived through questionnaires. Data analysis was done by formulating structural equation models by using WarpPls 5.0 software. Rice farmers in Singosari Subdistrict are in middle to advanced age with low eductaion. Most of them are elementary school graduates with experience of farming around 30 years. Result showed that the Extent of Training, Preparedness to adopt paddy planting innovation has significant effect to human capital of farmers. Those three has a positive and significant influence on rice farming performance.
Keywords: Key words: farming, innovation, training, farm performance
Topic: FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY