Analysis of the Relationship between the Effectiveness of Government Fertilizer Subsidies, Farmers' Land Tenure Scale and Patterns, and Farmer Poverty in Takalar Regency

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of government fertilizer subsidies, the scale and pattern of farmers' land tenure, and farmer poverty in Takalar Regency. The research is quantitative in nature, using a questionnaire as the main instrument. The sample consisted of 120 farmers, selected at random using proportionate stratified random sampling. The SPSS for Windows application was used for Spearman Rank correlation analysis. The results show that the effectiveness of government fertilizer subsidies and the scale and pattern of farmers' land tenure have a significant positive relationship with farmer poverty. In general, farmers classified as poor are those whose land tenure is limited to a profit-sharing (tenant) system, whose landholding is small in scale (less than 0.50 ha), and whose government fertilizer subsidy has low to moderate benefit effectiveness. Farmers able to control a large scale of land (greater than 1.00 ha), whether through their own ownership or through a profit-sharing arrangement with others (owner-cultivator farmers), were shown to have income levels greater than IDR 475,861 per capita per month, tending to place them above the poverty line (not poor). Regulation is needed regarding land tenure under the profit-sharing pattern, in the form of a regional regulation or a regent's regulation, so that government fertilizer subsidies achieve high benefit effectiveness — particularly for farmers entitled to receive them — in order to motivate farmers to increase their production and income through optimal land use, thereby helping them avoid poverty.