The pattern of production and marketing of horticultural commodities at the country border in Bengkayang regency; before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affects various aspects of life, including farming activity by farmers in country border areas. The objective of this research is to analyze the condition of the production and marketing pattern of horticulture commodities in the border areas of the Bengkayang Regency before and during the pandemic. The research methods used mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative. The result of the research with statistical analysis of the Wilcoxon test showed that the significance value is 0.002 and which means there is a difference in the amount of vegetable production before the pandemic compared to the pandemic occurred. There is a decrease in the average percentage of vegetable production as much as 11.89 % between before and during the pandemic. On the other hand, the result of statistical analysis for fruit production shows the significance value is 0.778, which means it is no different from the amount of fruit production before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the border area of Bengkayang Regency. Horticultural farmers sell and market their harvests in their entirety in fresh form. This research implies that efforts need to increase the added value of these horticultural commodities with preservation and packaging.