INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

Lack of Society Participation on Government Program in Implementing Agency of Agriculture

Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K) Waled and Its Effect
Ajeng Puji Lestari1, Syahnaz Nurfauziyah Asshof2, Rosi Rosdiani3
Swadaya Gunung Jati University
rosirosdiani72@gmail.com
Accepted : October 28, 2016
Indonesian Undergraduate Economic Review 2016

ABSTRACT
As an agrarian country, Indonesia is dominated by
farmers. It is approximated 23% of Indonesia land
area is agricultural land is about 41.500.000 hectares
with Horticulture sector area are about 567.000
hectares, Food Crops covering 19.000.000 hectares,
and Crops area of 22.000.000 hectares. Social and
cultural development affect the viability for the
public such as agriculture, decent work, and food
security but the problem here is the extent to which
the efforts and individual participation to be
responsible in equalization in Indonesian important
sectors, especially the agricultural sector. It has a
considerable influence on economic progress,
especially in rural areas. In this case, the potential in
various regions were able to support agriculture
sector in Indonesia, including Cirebon, West Java.
The agricultural sector is still the main sector for
Cirebon, seen from its contribution to the GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) which is almost 30%
including agriculture, crops, plantations, forestry,
livestock and fisheries (Central Biro Statistics
Cirebon, 2015). However, it cannot be denied that
the agricultural sector in Cirebon experiencing
various problems. Such as in Waled district. The
striking problems are natural disasters, agricultural
land management systems, cultural factors, and the
marketing system of production. The researchers
focused on the potential of agriculture with regard to
employability and food security that triggered the
economic problems in Waled using the Case Study
Method. The researchers investigated the problems
that rooted in Cikulak Kidul, Ambit, and Waled
Asem village. The results indicate that the low
farmers involvement within the government
program in Implementing Agency of Agriculture
Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K) cause a complex
persistent perspective to move on. This study

Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

implies that the mindset exchange of the famers

should be one of the BP3K agricultural programs.
Keywords:
Agriculture,
Decent
Work,
Implementing Agency of Agriculture Fisheries and
Forestry (BP3K), Waled Regional Issues.
JEL Classification Codes: O13, J43, P30, Q15
INTRODUCTION
Sustainable development program is one of the
solution to reduce the problems in Indonesia, as we
already know and feel that Indonesian government
has often conducted various activities in order to
create a program that is able to become one of the
competitor with other countries, especially in
economic sector which is the resilience of the
society welfare. Due to the opinion, the government
has the view that the agricultural sector could be a
solution to reduce the level of unemployment in
Indonesia. However, employment in this sector
should be driven by industrial development
(Member of the National Committee of Economic
and Industry (KEIN) Benny Pasaribu on Focus
Group Discussion (FGD) Roadmap Industrialization
of Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime and Fisheries
2045 at Hotel Grand Sahid Jaya, Jakarta, Thursday
(06/09/2016)).
But the fact that Indonesia is still a developing
country which did not escape sufficiently rooted
problem such as social disparities both in terms of
equitable distribution of resources, and social
agencies themselves, or we often refer to natural
resources and human resources. These are still seem
to be an important spotlight that should be studied
more deeply. The researchers argue that actually the
sustainable development could be reached by the
government especially in Indonesia with one
condition that every people both governments and

INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

societies are willing and able to follow every path

which is needed.
Related to natural resources and human
resources, in this paper the researchers want to focus
on the regional potency which is quite interesting to
study especially in the agricultural sector that affect
the decent work, land ownership and prosperity of
people that is affected by characteristics of social
agencies (governments, institutions, and societies)
that have implications for the food security of
society itself because agriculture is still the
backbone of the Indonesian economy. In the
discussion of Mental Revolution Agriculture for
Economic Independence Platform, in JKW Center,
Jakarta, Sunday (05/25/2014) Director of the
Institute for Development of Economics and
Finance (INDEF) Enny Sri Hartati revealed that the
impact agriculture has added value to the national
economy, impact on employment, the impact on
reducing poverty, but it marginalized.
In terms of agriculture potential development
in Indonesia, particularly in Waled, Cirebon, West
Java, government has institutions that mobilize the
society participation in government programs which
handled by the Implementing Agency of Agriculture
Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K).

Cirebon as a food crop producing areas in West Java,

especially rice, in 2014 rice production was rice
(paddy) and rice fields reached 520.017 tonnes.
Compared to the year 2013, which reached 562.122
tonnes, it has interval 42.105 tons, it was down 7.49
percent. In terms of production average in 2014
reached 6.93 tons/ ha, the figure is higher than the
average production in the year 2013 in the amount
of 6.82 tons/ ha. This production decline is
illustrated also from reduced harvested area of 2,554
hectares, for example from 87.900 ha to 85.346 ha.
Agriculture or wetland is spread throughout the
district in Cirebon regency.
By taking into consideration Indonesia as an
agrarian country and the important of agricultural
sector, the Researchers examine the regional issues
in Cirebon, West Java, specifically in sub-district of
Waled. Based on the data obtained, the researchers
suspect that Waled agricultural issues is rooted from
characteristics of the people who are not yet fully
capable of participating in the government program,
in this case relates to BP3K as government agencies
that interact directly with the local society.
In addition, there is no doubt that the
researchers found other problems commonly found
but highly influential on the agricultural sector such
as cultivation technique, extreme weather, pests, and
natural disasters.

LITERATURE REVIEW

CIAYUMAJAKUNING (Cirebon, Indramayu, Majalengka, Kuningan) MAP

Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

Cirebon is a part of West Java Province, located

in the eastern part and a boundary, as well as the
gateway of Central Java. In the agricultural sector is
one of the Cirebon regency riceproducing areas are
located in the path of the north coast. The layout of
the land extends from the Northwest to the
Southeast. Viewed from the ground / land area can
be divided into two parts, the first lowlying areas
are generally located along the northern coast of
Java, are district Gegesik, Kaliwedi, Kapetakan,
Arjawinangun,
Panguragan,
Klangenan,
Gunungjati, Tengah Tani, Weru, Astanajapura,
Pangenan, Karangsembung, Waled, Ciledug, Losari,
Babakan, Gebang, Palimanan, Plumbon, Depok and
Pabedilan district, while some are included in the
plateau region.
Based on the geographical location, Cirebon
district is in a position 108o40 ' 108o48' east
longitude and 6o30 ' 7o00' south latitude, which is
bounded by: North side adjacent to the district of
Indramayu; Next to the Northwest border with the
district of Majalengka; South side is bordered by the
district of Kuningan; East with the city of Cirebon
and Brebes, Central Java Province. Climatic factors
and rainfall in the Cirebon influenced by its natural
state is mostly made up of coastal areas, especially
areas north, east, and west, while the southern part is
a hilly area.
Resilience, independence, and sovereignty of
food in Indonesia rated yet sturdy. This is indicated
by high imports of food products. Until the year
2013 food security problems, especially rice is
becoming Indonesia's major problems. In 2011, rice
imports were 1.6 million tons and in 2012 it was 1.9
million tons of rice (Pujiasmanto, 2013).
Paddy rice has been cultivated in many
countries around the world since the days of our
ancestors. In Indonesia, rice as the main staple food,
its production needs to be increased to fulfill
societys needs. Increasing population and the
progressing in various sectors is causing a lot of
problems that arise in food security efforts such as
the conversion of wetland into other sectors. It is
feared in the long term could threaten the food
security of rice (Santosa, Adnyana, and Dinata,
2011)

Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

According to Suharno (2013), Legowo

cultivation system has flaws. It needs more energy
and time, more seeds and seedlings due to the
addition of rice population. Jajar Legowo on an
empty line will usually be covered by more grasses
or weeds, Legowo cultivation system that is applied
to the less fertile land will increase the amount of
fertilizer use but still in a significance low level also
it needs much more costs than non-Legowo system.
DATA AND METHODOLOGY
Case study method is the method that used by
the researchers in this paper. The basic principle
which started this research is when we knew the
news of the floods in Waled February 17, 2016. The
researchers have hypothesized about the agriculture
issue in Waled caused by the disaster. Then, the
hypothesis analyzed using probability sampling
technique with cluster sampling type where
researchers focused on three villages namely
Cikulak Kidul, Ambit, and Waled Asem as samples
of Waled that have different levels which represent
agricultural conditions there. From each village, the
researchers collected information from the social
actor such as Implementing Agency of Agriculture
Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K), farmers, farm
laborers, and local government which is represented
society of Waled.
In this paper we come up with comparison data
from three villages in Waled that have different level
and mindset to government program in agriculture,
in this case program of Implementing Agency of
Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K).
The increase in production is influenced by
many factors such as: cultivation techniques, the use
of quality seeds, fertilizer, irrigation, pest and
disease control through the post-harvest processing
of the ways that can be used to increase production
is the cultivation technique using Jajar Legowo, this
technique is actually already known by the farmers,
but if we see the condition of its application, it is still
lack such as in Waled. The application of cultivation
techniques still can not be realized due to the
planting costs which are very expensive, especially
with the system Jajar Legowo then the agriculture
labors ask an additional charge for it.

INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

Names of villages in the regency of Cirebon detailed According to the District in 2014

Jajar Legowo comes from Javanese language,

"Lego" which means extensive and "Dowo" means
long. The main purpose of this system is to increase
the production by modifying crops with adjust a
space so the rice plant is located like on the edge of
the embankment in order to get enough sunlight that
is used in the process of photosynthesis. Jajar
Legowo system has many benefits including:
1. It will increase the production of rice plants
significantly;
2. Improving the quality of unhulled rice;
3. Can reduce pests and diseases in rice;
4. It will simplify the rice treatment plants
either in the process of fertilization and
pesticide spraying;
5. Able to save fertilizer, because that is
fostered only in the interior of a plant row.

but in addition, it also has shortcomings including:

1.

It will require more labors and more times

at the period of planting rice;

2.

Requires more seed, due to the increasing

population of the rice plant;
In general, the land which use Jajar
Legowo, there will be more grass.

3.

According to those reasons Waled society has no

interesting on this program. Based on the
observation, the researcher was interviewed some
informants such as regional government both in subdistrict and village, BP3K, farmers and labor.
According to these informants, qualitative indicators
can be arisen, such as:

Facilities
Tractor

Rice
Barn

Cultivation
Technique Jajar
Legowo

Result
(average)

575

Not applied

400 tons

2010

2237

Not applied

175 tons

345

385

Not applied

250 tons

Villages

Agriculture
land

Farmer

Labor

Cikulak
Kidul

102,77 ha

211

Ambit

119,14 ha

Waled
Asem

98 ha

Sample: Cikulak Kidul, Ambit, Waled Asem. Some datas taken from: Waled in number 2015
Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

From the data above, the question arises, the

farmland of Ambit is larger than Cikulak Kidul and
Waled Asem only able to produce 175 tons of
agricultural production with total area of 119.14 ha
in 2014, and also can be seen from the data on the
number of farmers and labor, but why they are not
able to maximize their agricultural products?
In this case, researchers interviewed Mr.
Warsono (53) who is the coordinator of Government
and Rural Society Development of Ambit there are
some factors that led to the lack of agricultural
production in Ambit compared with other villages.
He said that it is not easy to manage a number of
human resources, while the characteristics of the
society itself still cannot be formed and it was
difficult to change. They hard to follow BP3K
program such as Jajar Legowo cultivation system
where agriculture has an impact on decent work and
food security. Another factors are natural disasters
and pests. He also informed us that Ambit has more
frequent to get natural disasters such as flood from a
neighbor village, Ciuyah. In addition to natural
disasters, Ambit ever attacked by boar pests which
was destroyed large areas of farmland there.
Talk about the characteristics of people who
become important factor in the realization of the
government program, in this case is the program of
BP3K namely Jajar Legowo cultivation system. The
result indicates that not only in Ambit but also in
others village, this program cannot be realized yet.
However, due to the external factor that is visible,
such as village administration management
especially in agriculture. Mr. Komar (45) as the
Coordinator of Economy and Development of subdistrict Waled said that the best management system
is in Cikulak Kidul. From the data, Cikulak Kidul
has a rice barn. Not only because of it but also in
Cikulak Kidul has been able to implement the
program Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes)
which affect the society as the target of government
programs.
Now, from the comparison we can derive the
first-best and selfish village under the conventional
mindset and the modern one. From the data we can
see that Cikulak Kidul is the modern one, then
Waled Asem, and the last Ambit.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
In the following, we begin the whole process of
providing data with interview the farmers, labor,
Implementing Agency of Agriculture Fisheries and
Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

Forestry (BP3K), and regional government in

Waled. The results indicate that the low farmers
involvement within the government program in
Implementing Agency of Agriculture Fisheries and
Forestry (BP3K) cause a complex persistent
perspective to move on.
In this case, the farmers involvement on Jajar
Legowo cultivation system is still lack and cannot be
realized yet because the conventional society
mindset about agriculture itself. They assumed that
if they use Jajar Legowo system they need to employ
more labors meanwhile the profit have to divide
between the farmers and the labors because actually
Jajar Legowo takes longer time in the planting
process. In one hand, the labors should work in a
farm lands, on the other hand they also work as a
part time job worker in other city when they waiting
for harvest period.
The other reason why the society hard to follow
this program is the cost. Cost is the crucial one,
because it needs more seeds and the production cost
also higher than non-Jajar Legowo system that
usually use in Waled based on their habitual and
mindset. In general, the land which use Jajar
Legowo, there will be more grass. According to this
weakness from Jajar Legowo system, the society
takes the easy one system even if they cannot rise up
the optimal production from it.
If the farmers follow agriculture program
Jajar Legowo from Implementing Agency of
Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K) the rice
production will be increased and its quality will also
be increased. In this case, BP3K should make a new
program in order to change society mindset in
agriculture sector. They have to make an innovation
when they socialize government program.
CONCLUSION
Agriculture has a considerable influence on
economic progress, especially in rural areas. In this
case, the agricultural sector is still the main sector
for Cirebon specifically in Waled. The researchers
derive the following main results in this paper; (i)
that Waled can be classified as a potential region,
especially in agriculture (ii) various problems come
from the people themselves, they do not want to
follow government program such as Jajar Legowo,
whereas it has benefit for their agriculture. In brief,
this study implies that the mindset exchange of the
famers should be one of the BP3K agricultural

INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMIC REVIEW

Volume 2 Issues 1 No.5 (6 pages)

programs in order to optimize the potencies of

Waled itself.
In contrast, the Implementing Agency of
Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K) is a
government representative in regional which has to
inform more about the benefits of their program for
the society and make it more interest in order to
attract society participation. In addition to optimize
the acquainting it, member of Implementing Agency
of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (BP3K)
should not handle large scope such as in Waled that
one agency for three villages, but they should handle
small cope in order to keep in touch with the farmers
and labor. Due to Undang-Undang 2013 number 19
in chapter 46 verse 4 in third part, it said that
distributing extension agency as mentioned in verse
2 (two), at least 1 (one) person for 1 (one) village
REFERENCES
AEAweb. Journal of Economic Literature.
http://www.univ-oeb.dz/JEFR/docs/JEL.pdf
(accessed September 20, 2016)
Government agency. Cirebon Regency in Figures
2015. Statistics of Cirebon Regency.
Government agency. STATISTIK DAERAH
KABUPATEN CIREBON 2015. Badan Pusat
Statistik Kabupaten Cirebon.
International Labour Organization. Undang-undang
Nomor
19
Tahun
2013.
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECT
RONIC/95245/112068/F336716490/IDN95
245%20Idn.pdf (accessed 23 September
2016)
Nurkalis. Aplikasi Sistem Tanam Jajar Legowo
Terhadap Pertumbuhan Dan Produksi Padi
Sawah (Oryza Sativa L.) Varietas Ciherang
Di Kabupaten Gunung Kidul Daerah
Istimewa. Yogyakarta.
Pujiasmanto, 2013. Perkuat ketahanan pangan
nasional kita. Guru Besar Fakultas Pertanian
Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS). Surakarta.
http://www.uns.ac.id/
Santosa, Adnyana, dan Dinata. 2011. Dampak ahli
fungsi lahan sawah terhadap ketahanan
pangan beras. Universitas Udayana.
Bengkulu. https://www. repository.unib.ac.id
(23 September 2016)

Published online : November 14, 2016 (Vol.2 Issues1)

Site's sponsor. Benarkah sistem tanam, Jajar

Legowo
Menguntungkan?.
http://artikelpertanian.online/2015/08/benar
kah-sistem-tanam-jajar-legowo
menguntungkan.html (accessed September
17, 2016)
Suharno, 2013. Sistem tanam jajar legowo (tajarwo)
salah satu upaya peningkatan produktivitas
padi. Lektor Kepala/Pembina TK.I. Dosen
STTP Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta.