KONTRIBUSI USAHA TANAMAN PERKEBUNAN BAGI PETANI MISKIN DI KABUPATEN TEMANGGUNG

EstateCrops' Contribution forPoor Farmers in Temanggung District

Abstract

Since last four years, area harvested  and production  of tobacco  in Temanggung  District tended to decrease due to the low  price of tobacco.  It forces farmers to search alternative  commodities. Survey to find out the role of estate crops for poor farmers was carried  out in September-October

2004 inTernanggung District. The assessment   involved  91 farmers  who coming from three sub districts, i.e.  Pringsurat  Sub District  (medium  land), Kaloran and Kledung  Sub Districts  (both are high land). Results showed that in general agricultural sector was an important as a source of income, in which contributed 30,6 % and 45 % for medium and high land respectively. For high land farmers, estate crops contributed  the highest percentage (14%)  followed by food crops (12%). The dominant estate crops were coffee, tobacco, coconut, clove, and cacao. Tobacco showed the highest revenue (Rp. 2,505 millions/household),   even though also needed the highest production cost (Rp.  1,586 millions/household).  In medium  land, estate crops were in the fourth placed (5%) after livestock (9%), forestry  (8%), and horticulture crops (6%).  Dominant  commodities were coffee, coconut, and clove. Marketing system was not different  in both areas. Aside of coconut, estate crops was firstlyprocessed before being sold in village and sub district markets,  in which was paid in cash. For tobacco commodity, traders were the source of price information,  while for other commodities were neighbours/other   farmers. Based on the analysis, efficiency could be increased through scaling up the farm size. Fanning  consolidation   was promising  to be implemented