Determination of Factors Affecting The Adoption of Farmer Field School on Integrated Crop Management for Lowland Rice: A Case Study in District of South Lebong, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia

ABSTRACT A farmer field school on integrated crop management (FFS-ICM) program addressed to smallholder rice producers was targeted to improve the productivity of rice fields with the aim of enhancing their livelihood and accelerating the realization of sustainable national food self-sufficiency. Understanding the factors affecting farmers’ decision to adopt all aspects in crop production given during field school would be the key success of the program. Objective of this study was to determine factors affecting the adoption of FFS-ICM for lowland rice in District of South Lebong, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. Random sample of 100 respondents were taken from FFS-ICM participants. On average, the school had brought the participants to improve their crop productivity from 4.04 ton/ha to 5.36 ton/ha as implementing all ICM components. Nevertheless, the rate of adoption to ICM components introduced during the school was varied among the respondents. Logistic regression analysis performed both in full model and in simplified model had revealed that level of education, land ownership status, and involvement in group planning for crop production served as the most determinant factors among the respondent in making decision to adopt or not to adopt all ICM components. The adopters were commonly characterized by higher level of formal education, operate on their own land, and actively involved in a farmer group for formulating a crop production plan. Consequently, a continuous effort to improve rice productivity through implementation of ICM components should be addressed to the farmers with lower formal education, leased land, and less involved in group activity as the priority. Keywords: rice productivity, FFS-ICM, adoption, logistic regressio