Agricultural Socio-Economics Journal
P-ISSN: 1421-1425Volume 23, Number 2 (2023): 217-220 E-ISSN: 2252-6757
CITATION: Gunawan, H., Randana, H. P. C., (2023) POPULATION DYNAMICS OF IRRIGATION FARMERS AND FISHERY FARMERS IN MUSI RAWAS DISTRICT, Agricultural Socio-Economics Journal, 23(2), 217-220 DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.21776/ub.agrise.2023.023.2.10
POPULATION DYNAMICS OF IRRIGATION FARMERS AND FISHERY FARMERS IN MUSI
RAWAS DISTRICT
Hendra Gunawan, Muhammad Prima Cakra Randana
*Environmental Science Doctoral Student, Postgraduate Study, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia
*corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract Agriculture has been recognized as an important sector in Indonesia. In addition to providing food and industrial raw materials, it contributes significantly to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange, employment, and rural household income. One of the important triggers for the decline in harvested area and rice production in Musi Rawas Regency is the decline in rice field area due to the conversion of rice fields to non-rice fields. Conflicts over water resources vary from one area to another because water is not evenly distributed both in space and time. Therefore, this paper describes changes in the household population of rice farmers and changes in the population of aquaculture farmers in Musi Rawas Regency. This research was conducted using quantitative methods through a descriptive observational approach to secondary data obtained from the Government of Musi Rawas Regency, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The distribution of descriptive data was analyzed univariately using the SPSS Statistic 25.0 application. The area of rice fields increased from 2019 to 2021, followed by the number of farmers which also increased. The area of aquaculture is relatively stable in 2020 and 2021 and has increased compared to 2019. Meanwhile, aquaculture households from 2019 to 2021 continue to increase. The findings indicate the expansion of new rice fields (extensification) due to the need for new rice fields due to the increase in the population of farmers. The population of fish farmers is increasing even though the fishery area is constant. This condition indicates the fragmentation of fishery land.
Keywords: Extensification, Fishpond, Fragmentation, Musi Rawas, Rice Field
http://dx.doi.org/10.21776/ub.agrise.2023.023.2.10 Received 6 December 2022 Accepted 26 March 2023 Available online 30 April 2023
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture has been recognized as an important sector in Indonesia. In addition to providing food and industrial raw materials, it contributes significantly to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange, employment, and rural household income. Statistics show that Indonesia's agricultural sector directly absorbs approximately 31.2% of the workforce and represents around 14% of GDP in 2016 (Bijani et al., 2013; Sudaryanto & Mufid, 2015).
When compared to the harvested area (22,350 hectares) and production (123,933 tons) in Musi Rawas Regency in 2020, the harvested area in 2021 will decrease by 11.06%, followed by a decline in production of 3.15%. One of the important triggers for the decline in harvested area and rice production in Musi Rawas Regency is the decrease in the area of rice fields due to the conversion of rice fields to non-rice fields, for example for the development of the fishery sector. The fisheries sector is an attractive option because it can provide
Hendra Gunawan, Muhammad Prima Cakra Randana
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better economic benefits (Ashton, 2002; Gatti et al., 2021; Kampas et al., 2012; Nguyen et al., 2019).
The shift in the tendency of rice farmers' household businesses to the fishery sector is an interesting matter to be studied further. The side effect of this conversion is the increasing demand for water, so it has the potential to cause conflict (Jiang et al., 2020; Katewongsa et al., 2013).
Driven by landowners seeking to maximize economic returns, changing land use patterns affect natural and human systems and are recognized as key drivers of environmental change. Land use change often creates negative externalities such as congestion, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, fragmentation of wildlife habitats, and increased flooding (Polyakov & Zhang, 2008).
Because the right to water cannot be separated from land in many areas, in essence, it is still attached to land rights, in addition to land adjacent to surface water bodies. As a result, water is often obtained through permanent land ownership or land transfer (Chiarelli et al., 2022). The rate of land conversion and consumption at the regional, national and global levels will continue to increase in line with population growth. With increasing population and living standards, there is a clear need to produce more from natural resources, especially land (Fei et al., 2015).
Expansion of agricultural land, increased urbanization, deforestation, and human activities cause temporal and spatial changes in land use, which in turn affect ecosystem services such as regulation of hydrology and water loss, soil erosion (Elias et al., 2019; Rey et al., 2017). Conflicts over water resources vary from one area to another because water is not evenly distributed both in space and time. Some areas enjoy abundant freshwater resources while others face severe scarcity (Ntilicha et al., 2014). Ignoring the dynamic nature of conflict (especially long- standing and complex disputes) by eliminating analysts' broad strategic vision can help deepen understanding of conflict dynamics (Shahbaznezhadfard, 2022). Therefore, this paper describes changes in the household population of rice farmers and changes in the population of aquaculture farmers in Musi Rawas Regency.
RESEARCH METHODS
This research was conducted using quantitative methods through descriptive observational approach (Rezigalla, 2020). on secondary data obtained from the Government of Musi Rawas Regency, South Sumatra Province,
Indonesia. Secondary data analysis accesses primary data through formal (public or institutional archived primary research datasets) or informal data-sharing sources. In one method of secondary data analysis, the researcher reuses the data set to investigate new or additional questions for the analysis of new secondary data (Cole & Trinh, 2017; J. Wickham, PhD, RN, AOCN, 2019).
The data obtained are then presented in tabulation and described descriptively (Kate S.
BoerSma, 2016). The study is designed to study the relationship between rice farmer household population dynamics and aquaculture farmer population dynamics from 2019 to 2021. Farmer population dynamics consists of the number of farmers in and area of rice fields. Meanwhile, the population dynamics of fishery farmers are described by the number of fish farmers and the area of fishponds. The distribution of descriptive data was analyzed univariately using the SPSS Statistic 25.0 application.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the results of research using descriptive quantitative methods on secondary data, the data on the area of irrigated rice fields and the number of farmers as well as the area of aquaculture and aquaculture households are presented in a row in the table. The area of rice fields increased from 2019 to 2021, followed by the number of farmers who also increased (Table 1).
The area of aquaculture is relatively stable in 2020 and 2021 and has increased compared to 2019.
Meanwhile, aquaculture households from 2019 to 2021 continue to increase (Table 2).
Table 1. Area of Rice Field and Amount of Peasant
Table 2. Area of Pond and Amount of Pond Farmer Years Area of Pond (ha) Amount of
Pond Farmer
2021 792,87 4.629
2020 792,87 4.267
2019 792,66 4.062
The findings indicate the expansion of new rice fields (extensification) due to the need for new rice fields due to the increase in the farmer population. There are two important sides that can be put forward, namely the increase in the number
Years Area of Rice Field (ha)
Amount of Peasant
2021 14.907 21.403
2020 13.481 20.825
2019 12.531 20.276
Population Dynamics of Irrigation Farmers
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of farmers is an indication of increasing public interest in becoming rice farmers (Schoderer & Ott, 2022). This result is different from the results that have been previously reported that there is a reluctance of the community to rely on the agricultural sector, especially lowland rice as a livelihood (Wu et al., 2015). Second, this increase also encourages the conversion of certain land into rice fields. This condition needs to be handled carefully because changes in land use can disrupt other sectors (Ouedraogo, n.d.). There is an urgent need to develop systems that reduce the environmental impact of the aquaculture industry, and at the same time can reuse and utilize excess nutrients to increase agricultural production (Da et al., 2015).
The results of this study also show a different phenomenon in the fisheries sector. The data shows that the area of aquaculture is constant during the span of 2019 to 2021, but the number of fish farmers has increased significantly in the same time span. This condition indicates the fragmentation of the fish farming area which is thought to be caused by an increase in population. This land fragmentation will become a serious problem in the future if anticipatory steps are not taken, such as the provision of new land. But this step must also be done carefully (Gholizadeh & Niknami, 2020).
The factor of land availability and land carrying capacity must be considered. In addition, the expansion of paddy fields and fishing grounds also needs to take into account the potential for land and water conflicts (Kabir et al., 2020).
CONCLUSION
The area of rice fields and the number of farmers has increased over the last 3 years.
Meanwhile, the population of fish farmers is increasing even though the fishery area is constant.
This condition indicates the fragmentation of fishery land.
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