Analysis of Farmers Attitude, Satisfaction and Loyalty Toward the Use of Composite Corn Seed in South Sulawesi

Abstract

Corn is a strategic commodity in developing agriculture in Indonesia. Increasing national corn production could be achieved by increasing productivity, planting area and use of high yielding varieties. Seed producers are expected to provide seeds of varieties that meet the needs and preferences of farmers. The main factor to be considered in the development of corn high yielding varieties is farmers preference to select and use the appropriate seeds. The use of composite corn seed is an alternative way to increase corn production in South Sulawesi. The purpose of this study are: 1) identify the characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of farmers toward the use of corn seed, 2) analyze the latent variable and dominant indicator variable in building farmers satisfaction and loyalty, and 3) analyze the relationship between farmers satisfaction and loyalty in using composite corn seed. Type of data collected is primary data obtained by survey method using questionnaires. The respondents of this study are 40 corn farmers (ever use local, composite and hybrid corn). Data are analyzed with Fishbein multi attributes approach to determine farmer’s attitude. The other 120 farmers who use composite corn seeds are taken and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach to determine relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. The results show that farmer’s attitudes toward composite corn seed tend to be better than those to hybrid corn seed and local corn seed. Based on the SEM analysis, satisfaction variables have relationship with farmers loyalty in the use of composite corn seed in South Sulawesi.