STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS ON ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR OF RICE FARMER HOUSEHOLD IN SOUTH SULAWESI PROVINCE IN INDONESIA

The research aims to measure and analyze the minimum standard of optimum land area (land operation)of rice\ud farmer household, economic behavior, income of family labors in rice farming, condition of production capacity\ud of rice farming, consumption need of rice farmer household in South Sulawesi, as well as formulate the proper\ud strategy to raise rice farmer???s welfare.\ud Tool of analysis used to measure the land operation, income of family labors, as well as production capacity is\ud Z score, whereas the strategy formulation uses SWOT.\ud The research conducted in five regencies in South Sulawesi:Bone, Soppeng, Wajo, Sidrap, and Pinrang. These\ud regencies are the main producers of rice, as well as highly represent the farming condition in South Sulawesi.\ud The respondents divided into three groups: landowner and sharecropper at once; sharecropper only and owner\ud only, and; farm worker. The number of respondent is 400 rice farmers.\ud The result shows that optimum land area (land operation) for proper life is 0.55 ha/people for technical\ud irrigated(owner and sharecropper at once), and 0.99 ha for rain fed field (owner and sharecropper at once).\ud Whereas, for landowner only and sharecropper only (profit share), the land operation are 1.10 ha/people for\ud technical irrigated, and 1.97 ha/people for rain fed field.For farm worker, the land operation for minimum\ud proper life is 2.8 ha/person.\ud The average income for family labor of landowner and sharecropper is Rp 1,199,408.33/ month, Rp\ud 599,704.17/month for landowner only or sharecropper only (profit sharing system), and Rp. 198,148.15/month\ud for farm worker. The average production capacity for technical irrigated fieldis 7.1 tons/ha/harvest, and 5.12\ud tons/ha/harvest for rain fed field. The average consumption needs for proper life in general approximately Rp.\ud 6.808.500/year, equal to 801kg of rice.In addition, the suggested strategy in order to increase farmer???s welfare\ud is defensive strategy