Empowering farmer group to increase rice productivity for promoting food security: a case study of the implementation of jarwo super technology in Lebak District, Banten, Indonesia

Abstract

Rice is the number one staple food crop, being eaten by almost all the population in Indonesia. Jajar Legowo Super (Jarwo Super) technology as an approach to improve rice productivity consists of various components of technologies. This study attempts to demonstrate the importance of farmer group empowerment and the implementation of Jarwo Super technology as a strategy to improve rice productivity. A two-year study from 2019 – 2020 was conducted in Cibadak Sub-district, Lebak District, Banten, Indonesia. We combined specific components of rice technology in Jarwo Super, and implemented it in the farmers’ fields. Scheduled assistance through farmer field school (FFS) and field inspections were regularly conducted. The individual farmers’ performance in the implementation of technology and their participation in the FFS were evaluated. Our study showed that the implementation of Jarwo Super significantly improved rice productivity by 34.7% and 35.5% in 2019 and 2020, respectively, as compared to that of regional productivity. The yield performances were highly correlated with both the components of technology as well as farmers’ participation in FFS. We concluded that intensive and continued assisting through extension activities is a key point in delivering technologies to improve rice productivity for better food security.