Last modified: 2019-09-30
Abstract
Karawang Regency was famous as the rice-production in Java. But in recent years, there has been land-use changes from paddy field to the industrial and housing area. The proportion area of paddy fields changed from 55.35% (2009) to 54.49% (2017) of the total area of Karawang, 175,327 ha. The existence of industries in Karawang also attracted people to switch professions from farming to industrial sector. Indicated by the decreasing number of workers in the farming sector, from 4,628 people (2009) to 3,744 people (2016). At the same period, there was an increasing number of workers in the industrial sector, from 89,163 people (2009) to 242,896 people (2016). The purpose of this study is to measure the index of farmers' sustainability status. This research was carried out in Telukjambe Barat District, Karawang Regency, West Java. The study uses the Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS) method with 3 dimensions: (1) social dimension (access to the education and health services, and participation to the development), (2) economic dimension (revenue, living cost, and well-being), and (3) environmental dimensions (land ownership, access to the fertilizer, and access to the irrigation). Data obtained from the questionnaires and interviews with the farmers and non-farmers in study area. The results of the study found that the social dimension of farmers in Karawang has the lowest index compared to other dimensions. The most problem in social dimension is the lowest access to the education and health services. The economic dimension showed that the farmers have revenue under the regional minimum wage. And the environment dimension showed that almost 60% of the farmers have no land of paddy-field, and the most critical issue to deal with are the access to the irrigation to increase the rice-production.