Pengendalian dan Penguasaan Lahan Pertanian di Pegunungan Tengger Lereng Atas

Tulisan ini akan membahas mengenai adaptasi masyarakat pedesaan melalui sistem waris sebagai upaya dalam merespon tekanan penduduk pada lahan pertanian. Jumlah lahan pertanian yang tersedia cenderung terus berkurang, sedangkan jumlah tenaga kerja di pedesaan cenderung terus bertambah. Akibatnya, pedesaan mengalami surplus tenaga kerja. Padahal lahan pertanian merupakan salah satu faktor produksi yang paling utama dan tidak tergantikan khususnya pada usaha tani yang bersifat land-based agriculture. Isu pemilikan dan penguasaan lahan bukanlah hal yang baru di bidang kajian sosiologi. Meskipun demikian, isu ini tetap penting untuk diteliti karena terkait dengan penyebaran pendapatan dan diferensiasi masyarakat pedesaan. Walaupun jumlah penduduk di Jawa semakin bertambah dan sumberdaya semakin langka, namun tidak seperti di negara-negara berkembang lainnya, di pedesaan Jawa masyarakat tidak terkutub menjadi sekelompok tuan tanah dan sekelompok hamba tani. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat pedesaan dapat melakukan adaptasi untuk merespon tekanan yang timbul akibat peningkatan jumlah penduduk terhadap keterbatasan lahan. Kata kunci: pengendalian dan penguasaan lahan, sistem waris, adaptasi, petani This paper attempts to explain how rural adaptation to the increase of population and limitation of land through their system of inheritance. Land ownership and control have been a long-standing issue within sociological studies. Nevertheless, they remain relevant today. Distribution of wealth and societal differentiation in this case are closely related to social differentiation in rural areas, in which the number of agricultural land tends to be inversely proportional to population growth. The population surplus consecutively causes a surplus of human resources. Human resources increase while land decreases. Despite the importance of human resource, land is an essentially important factor in agriculture. In land-based agriculture system, land determines whether the family can farm from generation to generation. Within such system, land is irreplaceable. Landowners will occupy the high place in the village’s social class, while no-land peasants will be forced in poverty. The high number of peasants in a village is one of the signs of impoverishment. Despite the increase of population and scarcity of resources in Java, its rural areas inhabitants are not rigidly polarized into landowners and peasants, which sets the island apart from other places in other developing countries. This signifies that rural inhabitants in Java could adapt to the pressure of population growth on land scarcity. Keywords: land ownership and control, system of inheritance, adaptation, farmer