Portrait of welfare of mountain communities applying traditional agroforestry model in Ajaobaki Village District of South Central Timor

Abstract

Mountain communities in Mutis commonly work as farmers, and farm is used as physical capital to provide all life necessities such as food, housing, clothing, and services. Fulfillment of their life necessities depends heavily on income generated from agriculture, farming, forestry, animal husbandry, and other small business products. This research aims to understand the level of welfare of mountain communities applying the traditional agroforestry model in Ajaobaki Village, District of South-Central Timor. The study was conducted from May to July 2021, with the number of respondents being 41 households. The method used in this research was survey methods with descriptive analysis. Community welfare is measured through respondents’ expenditures for one year (2020) to meet the needs of food, housing, and clothing compared to expenditures to meet the needs/consumption of services such as education, health, electronic goods, recreation, and so on. The result of the research showed that the value of consumption of the basic necessities per year to meet comunities’ needs for food was IDR 9,352,902.439 on average, the board was IDR 1,696,341.463 on average, and clothing was IDR 783,902.439 on average. Meanwhile the average expenditure for service consumption per year was IDR 9,916,439.024. Analysis of the level of community welfare through the analysis of the good services ratio (GSR) in Ajaobaki Village showed that the percentage of people who are not prosperous are 56.11%, prosperous 29.26%, and more prosperous 14.63%. The people who are not or less prosperous generally prioritize primary needs such as food, housing, and clothing rather than consumption of service values, while prosperous people are oriented towards the value of consumption of services (services) in the form of education, health, communication, social, and so on.