Adoption Determinants of Biofertilizer Technology for Soybean in Rainfed Area

Abstract

The target of the Government of Indonesia (the GoI) for achieving soybean self-sufficiency in 2018-2020 makes some efforts for increasing soybean production requiring the increase of productivity, as well as harvest area, should be done. The rainfed area is an excellent potential for soybean cultivation area expansion in Indonesia. The area reaches 3.1 million ha in Indonesia with 413,000 ha are in South Sulawesi Province. It mostly does not use for soybean cultivation due to limited water availability. Cropping patterns in the rainfed area are paddy - fallow, paddy - corn, paddy - soybean, or paddy - mungbean depends on the water availability. The productivity of soybean in the rainfed area is around 1.5 t/ha, and it is expected to be increased in the range of 1.8-3.2 t/ha. Dissemination of biofertilizer technology for soybean in the rainfed area named “Biodetas” was conducted during the dry season of 2017 in Tompobulu Sub-district, Maros Regency, South Sulawesi Province. Components of “Biodetas” technology introduced include (1) the use of biofertilizer (Agrisoy), (2) the reducing of NPK fertilizer use, (3) the use of leaf fertilizer, as well as (4) the use of organic fertilizer. The dissemination scale was 40 ha then compared to 5 ha of the existing cultivation. Research aimed to determine factors affecting farmers to adopt the biofertilizer technology of “Biodetas”. Research used regression analyses using a binary logic model with the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 program. Variables used were farmers’ experience on soybean cultivation, formal education, the extent of soybean planting area, soybean production, income from soybean, rice, and other farming activities, as well as dummy variables for land ownership status, biofertilizer production inputs access, improved seed access, and higher production cost should be provided by farmers. The application of “Biodetas” was able to increase soybean yield to 2.7 t/ha, 71% higher compared to the existing technology that produced 1.6 t/ha soybean. It is economically feasible to be adopted by farmers with B/C ratio1.2. The determinant of technology adoption by farmers was the extent of the soybean planting area. The larger soybean planting area will accelerate the adoption of technology. It may be related to landowners’ economic capability to provide the necessary production inputs to obtain the optimal yield.