FARMERS' RESPONSE TO THE USE OF HYBRID CORN SEEDS SUPERIOR VARIETIES

Abstract

Superior varieties of corn seeds are an innovation in the agricultural sector that has advantages. The government's efforts, through the Maros Cereal Crops Research Institute, are accelerating the adoption of innovation by providing free superior varieties of hybrid corn seeds to farmers. In order for the program to be implemented well, farmers' responses need to be studied. The aim of the research is to describe farmers' responses to the use of superior varieties of corn seeds, calculate the increase in hybrid corn production after using superior varieties of corn seeds, and analyze the correlation between the responses of farmers using superior varieties of corn seeds and the level of hybrid corn productivity. The research was carried out in Takalar Regency, South Sulawesi Province, lasting for 8 months. The survey method involves conducting in-depth interviews with corn farmers. Determination of the sample using the simple random sampling method. Quantitative descriptive analysis, farming productivity and correlation analysis were used to analyze research data. The research results show that the NASA 29 hybrid corn seed is an innovation of the Ministry of Agriculture's Research and Development Agency, with a potential yield of 13.5 tons ha-1. It is the result of a cross between the hybrid line G10.26-12 as the female parent and MAL03 as the male parent. This hybrid corn parent was taken from the Maros Serealia Center. The superior seed varieties used by respondent farmers are NASA 29 seed varieties and Jh variety 29 seeds. Socio-economic characteristics of farmers, namely age 42 years, formal education completed high school, 17 years of farming experience, farmer income IDR 5,863,636, and an average the farmer's land area is 0.43 ha. The cognitive response score of 752, the affective response score of 541, and the psychomotor response score of 791 are in the good response category. Hybrid corn production before using superior variety seeds was 4,403 kg ha-1 and after using superior variety seeds was 7,751 kg/ha. Increase in corn production by