THE IMPACT OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS ON FARMERS' PERCEPTION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSERVATION 1)* Nuraeni

, Sugiyanto2), Zaenal Kusuma3), Syafrial4) 1) Faculty of Agriculture, UMI Makassar, 2) Faculty of Agriculture, Brawijaya University, 3) Faculty of Agriculture, Brawijaya University, 4) Faculty of Agriculture, Brawijaya University * Corresponding author: Nuraeni (neni_basri@yahoo.com) Abstract: This research aims to study the impact of internal factors (knowledge, attitude and skill) and external factors (social, economic and culture) on the perception and participation of farmers in the conservation effort in the upstream area of the river bank area of Jeneberang river in South Sulawesi. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) version 6. The result obtained from this research is that internal factors have significant influence on the perception and participation of farmers in agricultural conservation effort. This shows that farmer perception and participation can be improved by improving their knowledge and skill in conservation in commercial cultivation of vegetable crops. External factors do not have significant impact on the perception and participation of farmers, since they are experienced as community forest holder before changing to vegetable cultivation. Keywords: conservation agriculture, internal factors, external factors, conservation, perception, participation. 1. INTRODUCTION The cultivation of dry field are mostly carried out in the upstream part of the river bank area, where the hilly terrain has high level of precipitation. This results in erosion, which can reduce the productivity of

the soil. Therefore conservation technique is necessary to optimize the use of dry field in upstream part of the river bank area. The effort to apply the principles of conservation of resources in cultivation system is principally dependent upon the perception and participation of the farmers as autonomous actors in their cultivation effort. However, it is realized that the farmers are generally in lacking in means so that the fulfillment of short-term needs have more priority than the long-term concerns such as the application of conservation in their agricultural effort. Based on this consideration, the farmers need information, government that it education the an and approach edification and to change from the the so mental through requires empowerment instruction

attitude of the farmers. The bank area of the Jeneberang river is one of the three river bank area in the South Sulawesi which receive priority. The bank area in the Jeneberang river has been damaged by the change in the use of land and by the fact that the cultivation system practiced by the people does not follow the soil and water conservation techniques which is necessary for areas with high level of declination. The result of analysis by Zubair and Djoehartono (2001) on the erosion for each kinds of land use in the bank area of Jeneberang river shows that use of land which gives large contribution on the pace of soil erosion is dry field paddy cultivation ( tegalan), bushes

(belukar), especially vegetables,

garden in the

(kebun) upstream potato

and

dry

field is

cultivation on

(ladang). The dry field cultivation (tegalan and ladang), area, and concentrated The mostly cabbage. potato

cultivation seems to produce the highest level of erosion due to the method of cultivating steep pieces of land. The erosion for all upstream river banks area of Jeneberang river, based on the amount of dry fields, is 10,680 ha, where in the upstream area, the land with 815% downward slope is 2,150 ha (20%) and those with 1535% slope is 3,750% (35%). These area are estimated to lose their fertile top soil due to the erosion from dry field cultivation which is equivalent to 4.8 billion rupiah per year (Yudono, 2002). Considering that the upstream river bank area is mostly used is of for one agriculture, alternative river. then for According is conservation agricultural to Arsyad an agriculture bank area

enterprise which can be developed in the upstream river Jeneberang (2006), conservation agriculture basically

integrated approach in agriculture which focuses on the development of dry field cultivation combined with soil conservation techniques (vegetative and mechanic) in an effective manner to achieve conservation of soil, water and vegetation in sustainable and profitable manner. The translated awareness into of direct the farmers on environmental the problems has been growing but this awareness has not been action. Theoretically, deplorable behavior of farmers towards their environment

is due to the relation between the two, which is affected by several factors. Therefore, the impact of internal and external factors on the perception and participation of farmers in the in implementation Sumarni (2006) of has conservation stated that in the vegetable cultivation should be studied. Winkel psychology on internal aspects of human beings can be grouped into three categories, that is: (1) cognitive aspect, which includes knowledge and understanding, (2) affective motivation, aspect, movements. Bloom in Sudijono (2009) has divided the cognitive aspect into six hierarchical process of thinking, which from the lowest to the highest analysis, are: knowledge, and is: and comprehension, affective receiving, application, into five synthesis that aspect, which which and includes values, feeling, and (3) and interest, psychomotor motor or attitude

includes

observation

evaluation. Krathwohl in Sudijono (2009) has divided the aspect categories, responding, valuing, organization

characterization by value. While the psychomotor aspect, according to Simpson in Sudijono (2009), can be divided into seven categories, that is: perception, set, guided response, mechanism, complex overt response, adaptation and origination. Individual perception is shaped not only by internal factors but also by external factors, that is the condition outside the individual which can stimulate the individual to form perception. Based on interactionist

approach

according

to

Soekanto

in

Harihanto

(2001),

individual behavior is generally affected by internal and external factors. The internal factors which is psychic in nature includes aspect, perception, ego, personality, belief and mental and intellectual behavior factors. Community understood development there are as of four participation the involvement own of self, their kinds in of this the research people lives in and is the is morality, socioeconomic

motivation, while the external factor which can affect sociocultural, physical

their

their (1)

environment (Nasution, 2009). It is further stated that participation, that is: participation in decision making, (2) participation in action, (3) participation in partaking the results and (4) participation in evaluation. Participation in this research is to see how far the involvement of farmers in the upstream river banks area of Jeneberang river in implementing conservation in their cultivation farmers in voluntarily. meetings, Based (2) on this, in then the participation is measured from (1) the involvement of involvement implementation of conservation and (3) involvement in the maintenance of the existing conservation practices. Based on the discussion above, this research aims to: (1) identify the impact skill) on of internal factors and (knowledge, attitude, the perception

participation of farmers in the conservation agriculture, (2) identifying the impact of external factors (social,

economic, culture) on the perception and participation of farmers on conservation agriculture. 2. RESEARCH METHOD This research was carried out in the upstream river bank area of Jeneberang river in the district of Pattapang, Regency of Gowa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, which is chosen as the center of vegetable cultivation in the area. The population of this research is 182 vegetable farmers, which is chosen randomly, using sample determination formula. The variables endogenous variable in this and and research external is two exogenous and with two 35 (internal factors)

(perception

participation)

indicators. Data was collected with questionnaire which is formulated based on the indicators which form each variables and these are measured with Likert scales. This research aims to test and analyze the causal relation between independent and dependent variables. Therefore, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is applied here using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) version 6. The variables and indicators and data collection method is shown in the following table. Table 1. Variables and Data Collection
Variables Internal Factors Knowledge (X1) 1. Knowledge 2. Comprehension 3. Application X1.1 X1.2 X1.3 Questionnaire with closeended question Indicators Code Data Collection

4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation Attitude (X2) 1. Receiving 2. Responding 3. Valuing 4. Organization 5. Characterization by value 1. Perception 2. Set 3. Guided Response 4. Mechanism 5. Complex Overt Response 6. Adaptation 7. Origination 1. Formal education 2. Non-formal education 3. Organization 4. Information through media 1. Household income 2. Area of land 1. Religious norms 2. Government regulation 3. Local custom 1. Improving production 2. Reducing erosion 3. Improving fertility 4. Improving water supply 5. Preventing flood and landslide 1. Presence in meetings 2. Implementation 3. Maintenance

X1.4 X1.5 X1.6 X2.1 X2.2 X2.3 X2.4 X2.5 X3.1 X3.2 X3.3 X3.4 X3.5 X3.6 X3.7 X4.1 X4.2 X4.3 X4.4 X5.1 X5.2 X6.1 X6.2 X6.3 Y1.1 Y1.2 Y1.3 Y1.4 Y1.5 Y2.1 Y2.2 Y2.3 Questionnaire with closeended question

Skill (X3)

Questionnaire with closeended question

External Factors Social (X4) Questionnaire with closeended question

Economics (X5) Culture (X6)

Questionnaire with closeended question Questionnaire with closeended question Questionnaire with closeended question

Community perception (Y1)

Community participation (Y2)

Questionnaire with closeended question

3. DISCUSSION 3.1 Result of Goodness-of-Fit Test In the SEM analysis, before the model is tested, we first test the goodness-of-fit of the model. Theoretical model in the conceptual framework of the research, will be considered to be have sufficient fit when it is

supported

by

empirical

data.

The

test

result

are

presented as follows. Table 2. Goodness-of-Fit Results

Criterion P Chi Square/DF GFI AGFI TLI CFI RMSEA Cut-Off Value 0.05 2.00 0.90 0.90 0.95 0.95 0.08 Result 0.000 1.599 0.773 0.739 0.747 0.767 0.058 Comment Lacking fit Sufficient fit Lacking fit Lacking fit Lacking fit Lacking fit Sufficient fit

Source: primary data, processed 2011 The result of overall goodness-of-fit test presented in the table and figure shows that not all criterion shows fit with the model. Only chi-square/DF and RMSEA which fulfill the cut-off value, where the value of chisquare/DF is 1.599, which is lower than 2 and RMSEA is 0.058, which is lower than 0,08. According to Arbuckle and Wothke in Solimun (2009), the best criterion for model fit is a value of chisquare/DF which is less than 2, and RMSEA should be lower than 0,08. In this research, the value of CMIN/DF and RMSEA has fulfilled the cut-off value, and therefore the SEM model for this research is appropriate and hence will be used for further analysis.

d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9
d10 d11

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

e1 1

e2 1

e3 1

e4 1

e5 1

X1.1.1 X1.1.2 X1.1.3 X1.1.4 X1.1.5 X1.1.6 X1.2.1 X1.2.2 X1.2.3 X1.2.4 X1.2.5 X1.3.1 X1.3.2 X1.3.3 X1.3.4 X1.3.5 X1.3.6 X1.3.7

g1

Y1.1

Y1.2

Y1.3 Perception

Y1.4

Y1.5 u1

X1.1

1
g2

1
Internal F.

X1.2

1
Participation

Y3.1 Y3.2 Y3.3

1 1 1

e10 e11 e12

d12 d13 d14 d15 d25 d26 d27

g3

1 1
g4

External F.

u3

X1.3

1 1
X2.1.4 1
d19

g5

g6

1 1
X2.3.3 1
d23

X2.1 X2.1.1 1
d16

X2.2 X2.2.2 1 d24 X2.3.1 1

d21

X2.3 X2.3.2 1
d22

X2.1.2 1
d17

X2.1.3 1
d18

X2.2.1 1
d20

Figure 1. Goodness-of-Fit Model (gambar: persepsi = perception, partisipasi = participation, f. internal = internal factors, f. external = external factors) Figure 1. Goodness-of-Fit Model Further test is then applied for measurement model and structural model. The measurement model in SEM is equivalent loadings loading between to confirmatory the is weight the of factor each analysis. indicators Factor as the of with show factor research

measure of each variables. The indicator with highest most dominant which is measurement identical variable. While the structural model tests the relation variables, hypothesis testing.

3.2 Testing The Structural Model In this structural model, there are six relations among variables which are tested. The result of the relations among variables is presented below. Table 3. Structural Model of SEM: Direct Impact
Relation Among Variables Internal factors external factors Internal factors community perception Internal factors community participation External factors community perception External factors community participation Community perception community participation Coefficient 0.152 0.500 0.401 0.063 0.096 0.357 P-value 0.070 0.001* 0.001* 0.438 0.240 0.006* Comment Non-significant Significant Significant Non-significant Non-significant Significant

Source: primary data, processed 2011 Note: * signifies significance with 5% error The result can be presented graphically as follows:

10

(gambar: persepsi = perception, partisipasi = participation, f. internal = internal factors, f. external = external factors) Figure 2. SEM Structural Model Note: red line represents non-significant paths Based on the table and figure above, the result of structural model is presented as follows. 1. Relation between Internal Factors and External Factors Table 3 shows that internal factors are not related with the external factors. This is evident from the pvalue which is greater than 0.05. This means that the external factors, no matter how supportive, would not have any impact on the internal factors, and vice versa. The absence of relation between the internal factors of the respondents, which includes knowledge, attitude and skill, with their external factors, that is social, economic and culture, is caused by their background

11

before they cultivate vegetables. Most respondent farmers had formerly worked in the pine forest to supply firewood for the Paper Mill of Gowa (Pabrik Kertas Gowa). This experience has shaped the knowledge, attitude and skills of the respondents as a resource for themselves. Without the impact from the outside or their environment such as social, economic and culture, they are already aware and about they the advantage even and impact of of the conservation have applied some

conservation techniques in the areas, though still in simple way and not perfect yet. 2. The Impact of Internal Factors on Community Perception Table 3 shows that internal factors have significant impact on community participation. This is evident from the p-value, which is smaller than 0.05. This shows that better internal factors would result in greater participation by the community. Perception on the benefit of agricultural enterprise is strongly influenced by the internal factors, which includes the knowledge, attitude and skills that they have acquired As or during the the the holder times of from before the the had they often cultivate exploit received of vegetables. community instruction rights local to

forest,

respondents

education

Agency

Forestry (Dinas Kehutanan) concerning the function and impact of logging. This is marked by the award of the Kalpataru for one of the local public figure in the early seventies. The

12

primary motivation of the community in those times were not only for environmental protection but also to supply firewood for the Paper Mills of Gowa. This ecologicaleconomical effort was carried out based on the belief that planting pine trees for the supply of the paper mill would guarantee the continuity and improvement of their livelihood. Therefore, improvement in the knowledge, attitude and skill in the implementation of conservation for the vegetable cultivation will impact the improvement in their perception on the benefit of conservation on vegetable cultivation. 3.The Impact Internal community Of Internal have in Factor On Community impact on of

Participation factors significant the participation implementation

conservation agriculture. This is evident from the pvalue which is smaller than 0.05. This shows that the effort to improve community participation in the conservation agriculture should be accompanied by improvement in their knowledge, attitude and skills, especially in relation to the conservation in vegetable cultivation. This is due to the fact that the benefit of conservation can only be felt in longer term, and in the short-term, conservation can even reduce the productivity of the cultivation. 4. The Impact Of External Factors On Community Perception

13

Table significant

shows

that from

there external

are

no

positive to

and

impact

factors

community

perception, as evident from the p-value which is above 0.05. This means that the best improvement on external factors would not affect community perception. This shows that the high level of perception on the benefit factors, aspects. of agriculture include is not affect on the and the by the the and external cultural of in soil of and which social, perception includes of supply on acquired economic

Respondents' reduction improved and that they

benefit

conservation production, fertility, flooding experience farmers. 5.The

agriculture

improvement improved prevention knowledge

erosion,

water have

landslide,

based

before

cultivating

vegetables and from their older generation and fellow

Impact

Of

External

Factor

On

Community

Participation Table 3 shows that there are no significant impact from external factors on community participation, as evident from the p-value which is greater than 0.05. This means that no matter how conducive the external factors are, it would not affect the improvement of community participation. The low level of conservation implementation in the vegetable cultivation is caused by the farmers' lack of understanding on the long term benefit agriculture, and also by the fact that vegetable commodity requires

14

conditions which is incongruous with the implementation of conservation. There are several reasons on the part of respondent application farmers for which cause the low (1) level based of on conservation techniques:

their understanding and experience, planting in line with the contour of the field will increase the chance of disease due (3) to lack of drainage, to will the be (2) under production area shade the of for of vegetable planting, would decrease reduced

vegetables

perennial trees and their growth will be stunted, (4) the farmers do not have enough time and labor to build and maintain the infrastructure necessary for conservation purpose, and (5) they do not feel that such effort would bring direct benefit for them. 6. The Impact Of Perception On Community Perception Table value 3 shows than that 0.05. perception This variable that has a significant impact on community participation with a psmaller shows better perception would result in improved participation by the community. It is clear that the respondent farmers are still amenable to the idea of implementing conservation in their vegetable fields, with the expectation that their understanding of conservation for vegetable cultivation can be improved. This means that deeper understanding on the conservation in vegetable cultivation would improve the farmers' participation in the implementation of conservation.

15

4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 4.1 Conclusion 1. Internal factors have direct and significant impact on the perception and participation of the farmers. This shows in that the can be perception improved and by participation of increasing of farmers implementation conservation their

agriculture cultivation. 2. External

knowledge and skills in conservation for the vegetable factors, which includes social, economic

and cultural factors, do not have significant impact on internal perception, perception and participation of the community in the implementation of conservation agriculture. This is due to the background of the farmers who had worked in the community forest before cultivating vegetables. These experiences have shaped their knowledge, the attitude of and skill so that even without impact external factors (social,

economic, culture), they are already aware and have applied the conservation techniques, though in limited fashion. 4.2 Recommendation 1. In the effort to improve the participation of farmers, external factors should be improved (social, economic and cultural factors) for the community in the upstream river bank areas of Jeneberang river. This is important considering that external factors

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can directly and indirectly improve the awareness of the farmers which will motivate them to participate in the implementation of conservation in its agricultural enterprise. 2. In order to prevent further damage to the river bank area of Jeneberang river, a regional regulation should be issued concerning the provision of incentives for the farmers who apply conservation techniques in their fields. The incentive may take the form of tax cuts so that the additional cost expended by the farmers for conservation purposes can be compensated by the cuts of land tax (PBB) and vice versa. REFERENCES Arsyad, S. 2006. Konservasi Tanah dan Air. IPB Press, Bogor. Azwar, S. 2009. Sikap Manusia; Teori dan Pengukurannya. Pustaka pelajar Press, Yogyakarta. Dariah, A., Rachman, A. dan Kurnia, U. 2004. Erosi dan Degradasi Lahan Kering di Indonesia. Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Tanah dan Agroklimat, Bogor. Kurnia, U., Suganda, H., Deddy, E. dan Kusniadi, H. 2004. Teknologi Konservasi Tanah pada Budidaya Sayuran Dataran Tinggi. Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Tanah dan Agroklimat. Departemen Pertanian, Bogor Nasution, Z., 2009. Solidaritas Sosial dan Partisipasi Masyarakat Desa Transisi: Suatu Tinjauan Sosiologis, UMM Press. Malang. Sudijono, A., 2009. Pengantar Evaluasi Pendidikan.PT. Raja Grafindo Persada. Jakarta. Tambunan, R. 2008. Perilaku Konservasi pada Masyarakat Tradisional. Jurnal Harmoni Sosial, 2. (2). Yudono, H. 2002. Pola Usahatani Konservasi Hortikultura di Buluballea Malino. Departemen Kehutanan Badan

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Penelitian dan Pengembangan Kehutanan. BP2TP DAS Indonesia Bagian Timur, Makassar. Zubair dan Djoehartono., 2001. Model Pengendalian Sedimen untuk Mempertahankan Kapasitas Waduk Bili-Bili, Sulawesi Selatan. Profiling Wilayah DAS Jeneberang. Pusat Penelitian Lingkungan Hidup (PPLH)-UNHAS. Makassar.

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