Utilization of information by the vegetable farmers (Case of Ciaruteun Ilir Village, Cibungbulang Subdistrict, Bogor Regency, West Java Province)

Abstract

Utilization of vegetable farming informations is one of important matter for the farmers in practicing a variety of information relating to farming of vegetables obtained from different types of information sources, including land-use pratices, regular irrigation, seed selection, fertilization, pest eradication and crop diseases, post-harvest processing , marketing and other information relevant to vegetable farming. This study objectives were (1) To analyze the utilization of information by the vegetable farmers, (2) To analyze relationship characteristics of vegetable farmers to the level of exposure to sources of information, (3) To analyze relationship of perception of farmers to agricultural services with the level of exposure to sources of information; and (4) to analyze relationship between the level of exposure to sources of information to the level of utilization of information. The number of samples was 50 vegetable farmers. The important results showed (1) The utilization rate of farm information in most vegetable growers (54 percent) were categorized as being the average of one to two information practices, (2) There is significant correlation between characteristic of vegetable farmers to levels of exposure sources information those are age, education, income, experience of vegetable farming, the number of dependents and the perception of farmers towards agriculture (affective dimension) by the number of information sources, (3) There is significant correlation between the vegetable farmer perceptions of agricultural services to the levels of exposure to multiple sources information that is the perception of farmers to extension agents, farmers, merchants and traders of agricultural production, (4) There is significant correlation between the rate exposure to sources of information that is the number of sources of information and variety of information obtained from various sources of information to the level of utilization of informations

Informasi bermanfaat bagi siapa saja, baik perorangan atau kelembagaan, termasuk petani yang juga membutuhkan informasi. Sektor pertanian di Indonesia hingga saat ini masih dianggap sektor strategis, bukan hanya karena sektor ini mampu menyediakan lapangan pekerjaan, pendorong munculnya industri baru atau kegiatan ekonomi yang lain, tetapi juga berperan sebagai sumber penyedia pangan serta mampu menyumbang devisa nasional. Intinya adalah pertanian menjadi basis pembangunan perekonomian Indonesia dan tidak dipandang sebagai masalah sektoral belaka. Saat ini para petani, termasuk petani sayuran dapat memajukan pertanian dengan memanfaatkan berbagai sumber informasi melalui komunikasi interpersonal dan beberapa media komunikasi sebagai alat komunikasi dan informasi yang menunjang usahatani sayuran mereka. Komoditi sayuran yang beragam membuat petani sayuran aktif mencari, menyeleksi, dan memanfaatkan informasi melalui berbagai sumber informasi sebagai landasan untuk meningkatkan pengelolaan usahatani sayurannya. Berdasarkan paparan tersebut, maka dirasa penting untuk dilakukan pengkajian dan pemahaman tentang pemanfaatan informasi untuk usahatani sayuran.