Feasibility of farming and farmer’s perceptions of introduced technology of rice cultivation on tidal swampland

Abstract

Tidal swampland has great potential for increasing rice production through the application of introduced technology of rice cultivation. In 2021, research has been conducted at Terusan Karya village, Bataguh district, Kapuas regency, Central Kalimantan to obtain information on the feasibility of farming and farmer’s perceptions as well as extension workers on the introduced technology of rice cultivation on tidal swampland. The survey was conducted on 10 farmers who were purposively selected, while 11 extension workers and 10 farmers who were not implementing introduced technology were randomly selected as comparisons. The introduced technology includes water management, land preparation, amelioration and fertilization, adaptive varieties, and management of plant-disturbing organisms. Data were collected through interviews with farmers using a structured questionnaire. These data include inputs and outputs of rice farming and perceptions of farmers and extension workers on the introduced technology. The data were analyzed using the balance of costs and revenues. The results showed that the introduced technology increased rice production by 27.79% compared to farmer technology. The introduced technology is profitable and feasible to be developed on a large scale with Marginal Benefit Cost Ratio (MBCR) value >2. The perception of farmers and extension workers is positive towards the introduced technology.