Benefits of social ties in farmer groups at agricultural extension planning in the district of Lima Puluh Kota, Indonesia

Abstract

Social ties is an important form of social capital in community groups, including farmer groups, because it will determine the activity of the group. Social ties can be formed based on the connection between ancestry and non-ancestry relationships. This article examines the benefits of the farmer group social ties in the agricultural extension planning process in Kabupaten Lima Puluh Kota, a case study of farmer groups at the village level (nagari). The research design used is mixed methods research, that is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods simultaneously with the weight of the method more pressed on qualitative methods. The type of the research used is case study. Three villages as the locations of this case study are Nagari Balai Panjang, Tanjuang Gadang and Batu Balang Kabupaten Lima Puluh Kota. Site selection was done purposively, with the reason that farmer groups in the three nagari have social bonding based on the connection between ancestry and non-ancestry relationships. Data collection techniques are interviews, questionnaires, documentation, and observation. Data were obtained from key informants from the leader of farmer groups as many as thirteen (13) people and agricultural extension workers as many as three (3) people with snowball techniques. Data ware analyzed by qualitative descriptive techniques using data interpretation analysis tools, and quantitative data is analyzed by scoring techniques using the Arnstein participation ladder. The result of the research proves that social ties of the farmer group play a role as a mobilizer of the participation of the group members in improving the village level agricultural planning process (nagari). The participation level of farmers in the village (nagari) of study cases is at tokenism level up to citizen power for each stage of composing agricultural extension program.