Factors affecting the conversion of cocoa land to rice field at West Sulawesi

Abstract

Batupanga Village is one of the largest cocoa contributor areas in Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi. But in recent years many cocoa farmers have chosen to turn their cocoa fields into rice fields. One of the government’s free rice field printing programs encourages farmers to join the program. Changes in livelihoods are closely related to changes in economic aspects. Changes in economic aspects will also affect the social condition of the community, so that the switch of agricultural land also has an impact on the socioeconomic aspects of the community, especially farmers. This research aims to know what factors influence cocoa farmers in transferting their land from cocoa land to rice fields. Data analysis techniques used are descriptive analysis. The results of this study are factors that influence farmers in converting cocoa land into rice fields in Batupanga Village, Luyo District is an economic factor (production, income), ecology (land area, environmental degradation), technical (water sources, alsintan), and social (number of family dependents, interaction).