Participation of beef cattle farmers and the effect on production

Abstract

Increasing food production can be done through increasing productivity and increasing business scale, both of them need an additional cost. Meanwhile, capital for small-scale farmers is relatively limited, so financial support is needed. At present, the Government financing support in the form of loans program is the People’s Business Credit (KUR). The objective of the study is to analyze the role of KUR in beef cattle business and the effect on increasing livestock production. The research was conducted in 2020 in Central Lampung District with a survey method of 60 farmer respondents. The study revealed that at the national level, the participation rate of beef cattle farmers in the use of KUR was only 2.71%, and in Lampung Province, it reached 7.72%. Beef cattle farmers in the study locations used KUR funds for on-farm farming. Most of the farmers (84.4%) used the funds to purchase brood stock. The KUR program has an impact on increasing the productivity of cattle for fattening 0.2 kg live weight/head/day, increasing the scale of cattle breeding, and fattening two cows and eight cows respectively per farmer. The impact of KUR on enhancing production due to increased productivity and business scale is significantly determined by the level of farmer participation in the use of KUR. It is needed to increase farmer participation in the use of KUR and the use of KUR funds to adopt recommended technology. So that, KUR has impact on increasing livestock production.