Farmers’ perception, awareness, and constraints of organic rice farming in Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract The green revolution and climate change have become a promising Indonesian rice production strategy to reach self-sufficiency through the application of improved agricultural technology such as organic rice farming (ORF). ORF is an eco-friendly agricultural practice that increases production, income, and sustainable agriculture. This study assessed farmers’ perception, motivation, constraints, awareness, and belief in adopting ORF. The study used a multi-stage sampling procedure. The primary data were collected from 203 households in West Java Province using a structured questionnaire. Weighted average index (WAI) was used to assess the farmers’ perception, motivation, awareness, and belief regarding the adoption of ORF. The results reveal a significantly different perception between ORF and conventional rice farming (CRF) farmers on production, quality, health and safety, market price, environmental concern, and certification aspects. ORF farmers had a more positive perception than conventional farmers. The results of the WAI reveal that CRF had a lower yield (0.63), risk-averse (0.70), and no cash compensation (0.62), whereas ORF had a higher price (0.82) and organic farming lifestyle (0.83). The ORF farmers also still have a strong positive belief in organic farming for the future, even though they lack organic fertilizer resources and certification. The strategies for adopting ORF are infrastructure improvement and community empowerment, compensation and incentive strategy, more intensive socialization, provision of assistance and training related to ORF, marketing facilitation, and subsidies on the prices and certification of organic rice.