Analisis Karakteristik, Kepuasan, dan Pembelian Ulang Petani Pengguna Pupuk Organik di Kecamatan Losari, Kabupaten Brebes

Abstract

Pupuk organik memiliki peran penting dalam memperbaiki kualitas tanah dan mendukung produktivitas tanaman secara berkelanjutan. Namun, tingkat adopsi pupuk organik di Indonesia masih relatif rendah. Persepsi petani terhadap manfaat pupuk organik juga belum merata meskipun industrinya terus berkembang dan dukungan kebijakan pemerintah semakin meningkat. Perusahaan yang diteliti merupakan salah satu perusahaan di Indonesia yang memproduksi dan memasarkan produk pupuk organik. Kinerja penjualan perusahaan pada sektor ritel cenderung mengalami stagnasi dalam lima tahun terakhir. Kondisi ini menunjukkan adanya permasalahan yang perlu dianalisis lebih lanjut, salah satunya terkait pendekatan perusahaan terhadap konsumen, yaitu para petani sebagai pengguna akhir produk (voice of customer) dan pelanggan bisnis (business customer). Perusahaan memilih Kecamatan Losari sebagai wilayah pengembangan pasar. Namun, jumlah pengguna produk selama dua tahun pemasaran diperkirakan hanya sekitar 50 orang petani meskipun wilayah tersebut memiliki 5.504 petani padi dan hasil Demonstration Plot (demplot) yang dilakukan oleh perusahaan menunjukkan peningkatan produksi Gabah Kering Panen (GKP) sebesar 24.68%. Kondisi ini menunjukkan adanya kesenjangan antara potensi pasar dan manfaat produk yang diberikan. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengidentifikasi karakteristik petani, menganalisis tingkat kepuasan petani, dan menganalisis faktor-faktor yang menjadi pembeda terhadap keputusan pembelian ulang pupuk organik serta merumuskan implikasi manajerial untuk merespons stagnasi penjualan perusahaan pada sektor ritel di Kecamatan Losari. Subjek penelitian adalah petani pengguna pupuk organik pada tanaman padi di Kecamatan Losari. Populasi penelitian sebanyak 50 orang petani berdasarkan hasil wawancara dengan riteler tingkat ke-2 (R2). Teknik pengambilan sampel dilakukan secara purposive sampling. Petani yang berhasil diwawancarai sebanyak 38 orang, sementara 12 orang sisanya tidak berhasil diwawancarai. Data primer dikumpulkan melalui kuesioner terstruktur kepada petani dan dianalisis secara deskriptif dilanjutkan dengan metode Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), dan Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID). Implikasi manajerial dirumuskan berdasarkan integrasi hasil analisis sebagai bahan pertimbangan bagi perusahaan dalam merespons stagnasi penjualan sektor ritel di Kecamatan Losari. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa cakupan pasar (market coverage) perusahaan berdasarkan realisasi penjualan selama dua tahun terakhir baru mencapai sekitar 2.65% dari total luas panen padi di Kecamatan Losari. Pengguna produk didominasi oleh petani laki-laki berusia 40-60 tahun, berpendidikan dasar, berpengalaman lebih dari sepuluh tahun, serta mengelola lahan skala kecil hingga menengah. Petani cenderung pragmatis, berorientasi pada produktivitas, dan berhati-hati terhadap risiko (risk averse), sehingga kepercayaan terhadap pupuk organik lebih mudah dibangun melalui bukti hasil lapangan, pendampingan petugas, ketersediaan produk, dan rekomendasi sesama petani (word of mouth). Walaupun nilai CSI sebesar 67.88% menunjukkan bahwa petani secara umum berada dalam kategori puas, hampir seluruh atribut masih memiliki nilai gap negatif. Hal ini mengindikasikan bahwa kinerja produk dan layanan yang diterima petani belum sepenuhnya mampu memenuhi harapan mereka. Berdasarkan hasil IPA, atribut yang perlu diprioritaskan untuk diperbaiki meliputi garansi produk, kemasan yang dapat digunakan kembali, variasi ukuran kemasan, kesesuaian hasil dengan klaim produk, kemudahan memperoleh produk, serta kemudahan aplikasi. Hasil analisis CHAID menunjukkan bahwa pengaruh petani teladan merupakan karakteristik yang paling kuat membedakan keputusan pembelian ulang, kemudian diikuti oleh pengalaman bertani. Model CHAID memiliki tingkat ketepatan klasifikasi sebesar 81.6%, sehingga kedua karakteristik tersebut cukup mampu membedakan keputusan pembelian ulang responden. Strategi perusahaan perlu diarahkan pada perbaikan produk, harga, tempat, dan promosi secara terpadu sebagai upaya merespons stagnasi penjualan pada sektor ritel. Prioritasnya meliputi penyediaan kemasan yang lebih fungsional dan bervariasi, paket pembelian sesuai luas lahan, perluasan jaringan R2, penguatan kelompok tani dan koperasi sebagai pengumpul pesanan, serta pendampingan teknis. Strategi pemasaran juga perlu dibedakan berdasarkan tiga kelompok hasil CHAID. Petani yang tidak dipengaruhi petani teladan (kelompok 1) bukan menjadi prioritas utama karena cenderung tidak melakukan pembelian ulang. Petani yang dipengaruhi petani teladan dan memiliki pengalaman bertani paling lama 10 tahun (kelompok 2) memerlukan penguatan pengalaman penggunaan dan pendampingan teknis. Petani yang dipengaruhi petani teladan dan memiliki pengalaman bertani lebih dari 10 tahun (kelompok 3) perlu dipertahankan sebagai konsumen inti. Perusahaan juga perlu mencari petani teladan pada setiap desa dan melibatkan mereka sebagai opinion leader melalui program rujukan (referral program).

Organic fertilizer plays an important role in improving soil quality and supporting sustainable crop productivity. However, the adoption rate of organic fertilizer in Indonesia remains relatively low. Farmers’ perceptions of its benefits remain varied despite the continued growth of the industry and increasing government policy support. The company under study is one of the companies in Indonesia that produces and markets organic fertilizer products. Its sales performance in the retail sector has tended to stagnate over the past five years. This condition indicates an underlying issue that warrants further analysis, particularly with regard to the company’s approach to its customers, namely farmers as the end users of its products, whose perspectives represent the voice of the customer and the business customer. The company selected Losari District as a market development area. However, the number of product users during the two-year marketing period was estimated at only approximately 50 farmers, despite the district having 5.504 rice farmers and a demonstration plot conducted by the company showing an increase in harvested dry grain yield of 24.68%. This condition indicates a gap between market potential and the benefits delivered by the product. This study aimed to identify farmer characteristics, analyze farmer satisfaction, identify factors that differentiate organic fertilizer repurchase decisions, and formulate managerial implications for the company to address stagnant retail sales performance in Losari District. The subjects of this study were farmers using organic fertilizer for rice cultivation in Losari District. The study population consisted of 50 farmers identified through interviews with second-level retailers (R2). The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. A total of 38 farmers were successfully interviewed, while the remaining 12 farmers could not be reached for an interview. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires administered to farmers. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), and Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID). Managerial implications were formulated based on the analytical results to provide recommendations for the company in addressing stagnant retail sales in Losari District. The results showed that the company’s market coverage accounted for only approximately 2.65% of the total harvested rice area in Losari District. Product users were predominantly male farmers aged 40–60 years, with elementary-level education, more than 10 years of farming experience, and small to medium-sized farms. Farmers tended to be pragmatic, productivity-oriented, and risk averse. Therefore, their trust in organic fertilizer was more effectively developed through evidence of field results, assistance from field officers, product availability, and recommendations from word of mouth. Although the CSI value of 67.88% indicated that farmers were generally satisfied, almost all attributes had negative gap values. This finding indicates that the perceived performance of the product and supporting services had not fully met farmers’ expectations. Based on the IPA results, the attributes requiring priority improvement included product guarantees, reusable packaging, variations in package size, consistency between actual results and product claims, product accessibility, and ease of application. The CHAID analysis showed that the influence of exemplary farmers was the strongest characteristic differentiating repurchase decisions, followed by farming experience. The CHAID model achieved a classification accuracy of 81.6%, indicating that these two characteristics were sufficiently capable of differentiating respondents’ repurchase decisions. The company’s strategy should focus on the integrated improvement of product, price, place, and promotion to address stagnant retail sales. The main priorities include providing more functional and varied packaging, offering purchase packages adjusted to farm size, expanding the network of second-level retailers (R2), strengthening farmer groups and cooperatives as order-collection channels, and providing technical assistance. Marketing strategies should also be differentiated according to the three groups generated by the CHAID analysis. Farmers who were not influenced by exemplary farmers (group 1) represent a lower-priority group for marketing efforts, as they tend to have a lower likelihood of making a repurchase decision. Farmers who were influenced by exemplary farmers and had no more than 10 years of farming experience (group 2) require greater product-use experience and technical assistance. Farmers who were influenced by exemplary farmers and had more than 10 years of farming experience (group 3) should be retained as core customers. The company should identify exemplary farmers in each village and engage them as opinion leaders through a referral program.