(A Case Study on Sumberrejo Village Residents, Purwosari Sub-District

RURAL ECONOMY PORTRAIT

(A Case Study on Sumberrejo Village Residents, Purwosari Sub-district,

Pasuruan Regency)

Novi Eko Prasetyo1, HendraSetiawan2

Post Graduate Economics EducationState University of Malang1

IKIP Budi Utomo Malang2

Email: 1

Abstract

There is growing interest in general description on the rural economy sincethe society is relatively uninformed about the exactrural condition and its related common problems.Indonesian government provides pathways to improve rural economic growth to overcome the inequities that have been happening.The aims of this research are to analyze (1) The rural economic condition and (2) the rural residents’ economic problems. This research employs qualitative descriptions of case study design. The research result suggests several findings, including (1) The rural economic condition related tothe considerable wages gap between male and female laborers and the difference on economic aspects growth in several areas i.e. dusun in Suberrejo Village and 2) the economic problems of the rural residents encompassthe increasing wages of agricultural laborers and the scarcity of fertilizer.

Keywords: Rural economic condition, rural residents’ economic problems

1

Introduction

The rural profile can be perceived from several components including: the administrative, area, population, comparison between male to female, birth and death rate and population density. Based on the components,rural profile can be subdivided into age groups and population livelihoods.According to Ahmadi (2009: 243), more than 80% Indonesianare in rural areas engaged in farming activities. Differences in agricultural commodities are influenced by the geographical position of a region. According to Landis in Ahmadi (2009: 241) “agriculture is strongly influenced by nature such as: the climate, landscape, and natural resources". In Sumberrejo village, the harvest is strongly influenced by the landscape, climate, and natural resources. This should be clearly understood by the community. Therefore, the crop failure risk will not be necessary.

According to Hartarska et al., (2015) credit loan given by certain agencies or banks has a positive impact in pulling rural economy in the US. Similarly, Babafemi, (2015) stated that the banking credit loanhas been positively changing the agricultural sector in Nigeria. Therefore, to increase the growth of rural economy of theagricultural majority society, either government or private assistance isrequiredallied to thecapital addition.

Poverty is one of the common problems frequently found in rural communities. Many rural communities are considered poor,evensome of which live below the poverty line. According to the data from the Central Statistical Board (BPS) of Indonesia (2016), the number of poverty reached 28.01 million. Although the graph has decreased since March 2015, but with the number of poverty are still relatively high would promoteslowdown in national economic growth.

Mawardi & Hidayati (2009: 187) mention that poverty arising from various factors in which each of these factors require special handling. These factors are: (1) the limited natural resources,(2) limited human resources human resources, (3) limited capital goods, (4) low level of productivity, and (5) low education.

Eventually, alleviation reflects positive behavior in which the principal actors and stakeholders are also the poor themselves (Eriyanto & Nadjikh, 2012: 10). It is expected that their motivation and passion to get out of the downturn can become the main driving force for the growth of a society's economy. The economic growth aspects of Sumberrejo Village differin each dusun. They differ in the harvest andin the type of work or the mindset of the community in managing the existing resources.

According tothe background problems, research aims comprise (1) the rural economic condition in Sumberrejo Village and (2) the rural residents’ economic problems.According to Kartohadikusuma in Ahmadi (2009: 241), the village is a legal entity in which resides a self-governing society. This means that each region is authorized to regulate and manage its own governmental affairs and the interests of the local community, so that all aspirations to improve the efficiency and also the results can be well accommodated. In the implementation of governance in the framework of the service to the community and the implementation of development is in accordance with the legislation.

Act No.32 of 2004 concerning Regional Administration, said that every regional administration is given opportunity in performing authority which is the region’s right. The productivity of a region is determined by the ability of the government to carry out the mandate of the community well.

The results of the rural commodities are largely determined by the geographical location. Hence, this is a dependable aspect of the people work in the agricultural sector. According to Ohland (2012), the development of the agricultural sector will affect the socioeconomic level of society as a whole. The role of the government in providing programs in the agricultural sector such as subsidized fertilizer, good quality seed assistance, and the provision of machinery for farmers etc. will greatly assist the rural community most of which livelihoods belongs to the agricultural sector. Ahmadi (2009: 242) added, "The majority of rural people live from agriculture. Non-agricultural jobs are casual leisure-filler."

Based on Multidimensional Poverty Index (IKM) the poverty indicators comprises of nutrition, education, housing, sanitation, clean water, and electricity.In addition to the indicators, this research adds poverty indicator in accordance with Eriyatno & Nadjikh (2012: 8), i.e. the inability of the family in fulfilling the needs of: (1) health cost, (2) children education, and (3) social costs.

In addition to poverty, other existing problem is the low output produced by rural communities that most of whom engaging agricultural sector. According to Gao et al. (2014), in condition of the lower output, the greatergap discrepancy between the rural and urban society. Consequently, the number oflow levelincomeruralresidentswill increase.

On the other hand, Poverty is often identified with the shortcomings, especially of the basic commodities such as: food, health, clothing, housing, and so on (Mawardi & Hidayati, 2009: 187). In the context of relative poverty, Eriyanto & Nadjikh (2012: 8-9) added: "Poverty can be interpreted as a situation or condition that causes a person or a family to obtain a poor predicate. This is situational, that the poverty level can vary over time and vary according to the lifestyle of a community at a particular location or area.”

The government has prioritized infrastructure development to reduce the poverty in Indonesia. This is in line with (Fan et al, (2000); Ashley & Maxwell, (2001)), that infrastructure developments such as roads, bridges, ports, and financial markets etc., are functional for the alleviation of rural poverty problems. The role of government is required to boost the output in the agricultural sector for example by means of infrastructure development in agricultural sector, subsidized fertilizer assistance, and good quality seeds and pesticide support to farmers. Agricultural growth will have an impact on industrial growth and sustainable economic growth (Gollin et al, (2002); Tif fi and Irz, (2006)).

Method

This research takes account of qualitative description research.Based on the design, this research employsa case study design. The informants are taken from Sumberrejo village. The data collection employed was survey and non survey techniques. To get the initial description or portrayal, the researcher used non-survey technique in the form of direct observation or observation and documentation. To get a more in-depth picture of the research problems, the survey techniques in the form of in-depth interviews with a number of informants and respondents were conducted.

Research Result and Discussion

The Economic Condition

Administratively, Sumberrejo Village is located in Purwosari Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency, East Java. Sumberrejo village consists of five dusun, namely: Rejoso, Manggihan, Pandansari, Kucur, and Ketuwon. The government center of Sumberrejo Village is located in Pandansari, about ± 7 km to the central government of Purwosari Sub-district.

Table 1: Population Development Table Year 2010-2015

Source: Sumberrejo Village Profile Year 2015

The data population can be divided by age and livelihood groups as shown in the following table:

Table 2 Data Population Table By Age Group

Source: Sumberrejo Village Profile Year 2015

Table 3The List of Human Resources (HR) in Sumberrejo Village Year 2015

Source: Sumberrejo Village Profile Year 2015

Based on the table above it can be concluded that in 2015, most of the residents’livelihood in Sumberrejo Village, Purwosari Sub-district, Pasuruan regency is in agricultural sector. The number represents 28.3% or nearly a third of the total population in Sumberrejo Village. The next is the manufacturing industry by means of 22%, and large trade or retail and restaurant 9.8%. The rest of 39.9% work in several other fields.

The results showed that DusunRejoso, Manggihan, and Pandansari which have lower topography than Kucur and Ketuwon are flowed by some rivers and tributaries that higher than the land, so that in these three areas the main crop is rice. From the results of the in-depth interviews on informants on December 2016, there was a correction that most of the agricultural land in DusunPandansari is a farmfield.This Areacovers a large part in the west of the rural area.

Most of the farmland in Dusun Pandansari, Kucur, and Ketuwon is not flowed by the river which surface is lower than the land so that in DusunKucur and Ketuwon there are many rainfed fields and farms. Nevertheless, the situation inDusunKucur and Ketuwon which is drier than Rejoso and Manggihan turned out to bring blessings to its inhabitants, especially whoselivelihood is either farmer orcultivator farmer. This is due to the commodity such as coffee, durian, and banana that are planted in the land. As widely known, coffee, durian, and banana are commodities with high economic value in the market. High commodity prices or agricultural crops, further, implicate the residents’ economy.

In terms of cost efficiency, farm fields are better when compared to rice farming. Farm field farming does not require high operational costs because it does not actually need more care such as rice farming. What distinguishes the most from wetland farming with cultivated fields is the irrigation. Rice fields require regular irrigation. Especially, if the irrigation activities are handed over to others or laborers, itimplies for higher operational costs. To reduce the operational costs, usually irrigation activities are handed over to other people or laborers with a piece-work system during one planting season.

Considering the success of the farmers in DusunKucur and Ketuwon, oddities or economic anomalies occur in Pandansari. Most of the agricultural land in Pandansari most of which consist of larger farm fields is actually has the slowest economic growth among the other dusun in Sumberrejo Village.

One of the underdevelopment causes of DusunPandansari’s economic growth in comparison to rural economic growth with other farming fields is the difference of commodities or crops grown. Most of the farm fields in DusunKucur are planted with higher economic value such as coffee, durian, and banana, while in Pandansari are wood, corn, and cassava.The following table showsthe laborer wages in Dusun Manggihan in 2016.

Table4 Farm Laborers Wages in DusunManggihan Sumberrejo Village, Purwosari Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency

Source: Cultivated Data (2016)

Based on the triangulation result with the obtained information from one of the farm laborers in DusunKucur, there is similarity of wages of laborers in the places in Sumberrejo Village. From the table it isapparent that there is a considerable wages gap between male and female laborers, which is 100%.

The following are the dusunnames in Sumberrejo Village put in order based on the different economic growths: (1) Kucur, (2) Ketuwon, (3) Rejoso, (4) Manggihan, and (5) Pandansari. Kucur and Ketuwon are two rural areas with the highest economic growth, followed by Rejoso, Manggihan, and Pandansari with no significant differences.

Dusun Kucur and Ketuwon have a high economic growth due to: (1) harvests in both rural areas have high economic value, and (2) there are many villagers who become entrepreneurs. According to Khan (2015) the rural population, who relies initially mostly on farming income, has now diversified sources of their income into trade, agro-processing, and supporting industries. This tendency causes the difference growth of rural economy.

According to List in Subandi (2012), economic growth depends on several things, namely: (1) the role of the government, (2) private organizations, (3) entrepreneur, and (4) the culture of the society itself. In other words, one of the contributing factors in economic growth in a region or territory is the mindset of the community as an involved party. Unfortunately, there is the impression that rural peasants who are generally cultivators and farmers in some Dusun in Sumberrejo Village are reluctant to try new things in addition to what has been studied and occupied since generations. This calm mentality is also seen in DusunManggihan. In Manggihan, there are only a few people who plant some of their rice fields with high economic value plants, for example farm crops planting by using intercropping system.

Nevertheless, behind the reluctant impression there is a rational reason why so far the farmers and cultivators, especially in DusunRejoso and Manggihan reluctant to plant crops. This because of their practical consideration on water for irrigation purposes that come from the river and the tributary that irrigated most of the rice fields in both rural areas is quite abundant, even in the dry season.

The second reason is that farmers usually grow rice to provide for their own family food need, especially for small farmers who only have ± 0.5 ha of rice field the rest of the crops are sold after they allocate some of them for the family food supply to meet their other needs.

Basically, farming is not a time-consuming job because the busy times are usually only in the planting season and the harvest season. In the free period between the planting season and the harvest season, routine work only limited to irrigates the rice fields, whereas jobs such as weeding rice and cultivating are not a routine work. Farmers usually back to their homes before midday.

Due to the less time-consuming nature of the work, farmers in Sumberrejo Village usually have a side job by raising cattle such as cow or goat. Usually, they go for grazing in the afternoon. They consider the cattle as an investment or savings that can be used any time in case of family need. It is a portrait of life that is commonly encountered in rural communities, especially in agricultural villages.

From the respective description it is clear that the village community is not a lazy society. It is in accordance with the statement of Mubyarto in Ahmadi (2009: 245) who states "farmers are neither old-fashioned, nor stupid and lazy. They have worked hard in their best not to starve to death." That is why, experts are more willing to provide incentives that can attract rural community activity than to be encouraged to work harder or more cultivated to avoid the empty period of work because it is connected to the state of the season or climate in Indonesia.

Reflects on the given agricultural potential of Sumberrejo Village, it is an irony to see the tendency of young people who are reluctant to follow the footsteps of their parents to engage in farming. Yet, if thoroughly and creatively done, farming is a promising livelihood. Generally, young people in Sumberrejo Village prefer to work in factories rather than assisting or continuing their parents' livelihoods. However, considering the relatively low level of community education in Sumberrejo Village, it is rare among of these younger generations to occupy a high level within a company. Due to the relatively low level of education, most of them work as laborers, machine operators, and those who have longer occupancy is at the position of factory foreman. Most of young people apply for jobs in companies or factories using only a high school diploma or lower. The level of education in Sumberrejo Village community in 2014 can be seen in the following table.

Table 5 The Education Level of Sumberrejo Residents, Purwosari Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency 2014

Source: Sumberrejo Village Profile (2014)

According to Mapuva (2015), decentralized activities of the central government to the regions will bring the impact of public access services to be more open and creates employment opportunities for rural communities. By the government's role, hopefully young people will continue to work in agricultural sector and make farming one of the livelihoods that benefits more.

In addition to the difference in the economic value of the crops, other things that also contribute to the economic growth of Dusun Kucur and Ketuwon are the large number of residents in both rural areas who become entrepreneurs. For example, in Dusun Kucur there is a furniture business with raw materials of Jati Wood, while in Ketuwon there is a sawmill industry. Some of the efforts that existed in Dusun Kucur and Ketuwon have been transformed into a commanditair vennootschap or often abbreviated as CV.