The agricultural sector is one of the aspects that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agroforestry farmers’ livelihoods in rural areas. It was carried out in Tasikmalaya Regency, East Priangan, where mixed garden agroforestry farming supports part of the economic life of the community. The data used were collected between August and September 2021 by interviewing 33 farmer households. A coding and descriptive analysis were carried out to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agroforestry farmers and their strategies. Subsequently, the cost-income, revenue cost ratio, and labor productivity analyses were used to assess the feasibility of agroforestry farming before and during the pandemic. The results showed that government policies related to handling the pandemic in form of Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) and the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) significantly affected the lives of farmers. These include decreased demand and commodity selling prices, difficulties in marketing agroforestry products, and a decrease in farmers' incomes by 38.45%. The agroforestry business has become less viable due to a reduction in farm productivity from R/C 1.1 before the pandemic to 0.85 during the pandemic, while farmer labor productivity decreased from US$ 3.00 to US$ 2.10. The farmers used direct cash assistance from the government and processed agroforestry products for sale and consumption as a survival strategy during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the government can help agroforestry farmers by increasing road access to rural areas, providing fertilizer and superior seeds, and also optimizing the role of livestock farmer groups.
The economic contributions of rural enterprises in Indonesia are significant to support local people's livelihoods, although it remains at micro to medium levels. One small-scale enterprise, which remains understudied and receives little policy attention, is the bamboo enterprise. Gunungkidul Regency in Yogyakarta Special Province, a central region in Java Island, Indonesia, have many bamboo enterprises, creating various products that support some 6,500 jobs. This research is conducted as a case study of the Gunungkidul Regency. A value chain perspective was used to study three bamboo-based enterprises' value chain structure: kitchen utensils, bamboo toy handicraft, and chemically treated bamboo. The snowball concept was used until the data was saturated. In total, 86 respondents were interviewed. The traditional chain was dominant. The longest value chain and the highest number of actor levels were bamboo toy handicrafts, and the shortest and smallest actor level was the chemically treated bamboo. Most channels were in the toy handicraft chain in the production flow, then kitchen utensils, and chemically treated bamboo. The credit payment method is prevalent in financial flow, and trust has been widely established between actors. The information flow related to price was imbalanced. In each chain, collaboration in the raw material segment was weak. The lack of willingness of artisans to be more productive and the weak cooperation among artisans, coupled with the lack of support from the government seems to be obstacles to the development of bamboo as a small to medium enterprise in Gunungkidul
Climate change affects farming activities, leading to a greater impact on food security. Indonesia has the potential for a wide variety of geophytes that can be utilized for food security. However, geophytes are underutilized crops, and our staple food is still dominated by rice. This study aims to explore the potential and obstacles in geophytes development for strengthening food resilience in Indonesia. The methods used in this research were surveying and interviewing 30 “porang” and “beneng” taro farmers between January 2022 to April 2022 to determine the potential of tuber development and its market regarding climate change. The research was carried out in Ciamis and Tasikmalaya Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The result shows that geophytes are low maintenance which helps in reducing GHG emissions. Unlike grains, geophytes are commonly shade-tolerant, more tolerant to drought stress, and resilient on marginal land. However, the difficulties in the geophytes crops development are the unstable prices, and the market sometimes is still very segmented and obscure. Meanwhile, to start planting geophytes on a large scale has an environmental problem and a significant investment risk for farmers, especially farmers with limited land and capital. Therefore, enrichment of geophytes planting under the state land stands may be an option for mitigating climate change and overcoming food security.
Bali is a province that has a source-based waste management program that is in line with the concept of a circular economy, in the form of a waste management facility at the village level (called Tempat Pembuangan Sampah Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle or TPS3R). TPS3R is still in the stage of looking for a sustainable form of business. One of the main products of the waste management facility is compost, which although it is good for improving soil quality and rice field ecosystem, but is still difficult to find consumers, making the continuity of its business in question. By having sustainable business, we can generate more sustainable environmental benefits. The action research was conducted in three villages, i.e., Sayan, Taro, and Pejeng, in Gianyar Regency. It aims to bridge the use of compost for the initiation of healthier paddy farming, while identifying ongoing business processes, potential environmental benefits, opportunities for mainstreaming healthier paddy farming, as well as the role of relevant stakeholders in realizing a circular economy business model that is sustainable and more independent. We interviewed 22 key informants. The results show that all villages have the same business model, viz. utilizing organic waste for composting, plastic waste for sorting and resale, and residual waste that will be sent to landfill because it has no economic value. Although the sale of compost is still an obstacle, there are opportunities if it can be synergized in the practice of paddy farming. This mainstreaming can be further synergized into food security projects that must be allocated from village funds. So, the role of the village government in this case is huge, followed by TPS3R management capabilities, while other parties such as NGOs, academics, and agricultural activists are only limited to functioning as encouragement and companions. If the TPS3R is successful, the village community will receive environmental, social, and economic benefits.
Syzygium cumini included in the family Myrtaceae is one type of plant that is hard to find. The benefits of S. cumini plants include seeds as a cure for diabetes, fruit as an antioxidant and anticancer, fruit skin as a medicine for dysentery and leaves as a reinforcement of teeth and gums. This research aimed to study the effect of seed population sources on the growth of S. cumini seedling. Seed exploration was carried out in 3 different S. cumini habitats, (1) Gunungkidul District (2) Yogyakarta District and (3) Cikampek District. CRD (Complete Random Design) was used with each population consisting of three replications (50 seeds/replication). The seed source showed significantly different results on the growth of S. cumini seedlings (height, diameter, number of leaves, wet weight of stem and leaves and dry weight of stem and leaves). However, the variation of seed sources did not significantly differ on survival, root wet mean, root dry weight, top-root ratio and seed quality index. Height, diameter, number of leaves, comparison starting from the greatest were Gunungkidul (30.42 cm / 2.93 mm / 21.42), Cikampek (24.64 cm / 2.82 mm / 21.06) and Yogyakarta (21.27 cm / 2.45 mm / 19.27). While The stem and leaves wet weight and stem and leaf biomass comparison from the highest were Gunungkidul (6.84 gram, 2.10 gram), Yogyakarta (4.95 gram / 1.59 gram) and Cikampek (4.24 gram / 1.47 gram). Moreover, seeds from the Gunungkidul population produced better growth than other populations. This study's recommendation is to develop rare plants of S. cumini species that will have the best growth by using seeds from the Gunungkidul population.
Iodine is essential for the synthesis of thyroid hormone. Iodine deficiency develops due to imbalance between dietary iodine intake and thyroid requirements. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) includes a wide spectrum of abnormalities in the physical and cognitive development of human.
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