Corn Commodity Value Chain Analysis and Strategy in Increasing Farmers’ Income in Gorontalo Province, Indonesia

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to find out the profile of the potential agricultural resources particularly corn and to get the result of chain analysis of corn commodity value in Gorontalo Province. Besides, through a value chain analysis there are some important things can be formulated namely the strategy to strengthen the value chain, the proposed interventions, and the formulation of the development master plan which in turn will contribute to increase corn farmers’ income in this province. Descriptive quantitative method and SWOT analysis were used in this research. The results show that agricultural potential of corn in Gorontalo Province in 2012 consisted of: a. the harvested area was ??135,543 Hectare (ha), b. the production was 644,754 Ton, c. the productivity average was 47.57 Kw/ha, and d. the number of corn farmers was 165,858 or approximately 63.84% of 259.798 as the total farmers in Gorontalo province. The value chain analysis provides strategic issues in improving corn commodity consisting of three categories, they are: firstly; before planting, include: a. aspects of financial for the procurement of seed and fertilizer, b. land clearing disregarding the environmental aspects. Secondly; cultivation, include: a. farmer’s knowledge of good farming practices, b. land conditions (slope), and the last is after planting, include: a. cash management, b. limitations of post-harvest facilities, c. farmers’ weak bargaining position on the selling price, and d. infrastructure and transportation of crops that still need to be developed. Besides, there are some barriers in the development of corn commodity in this province: first; the lack of integration between the corn production with industrial needs, second; weaknesses in the application of a good cultivation process and stages, third; post-harvested handling is not maximal yet due to the loss of some of the crops and the declining quality of corn, and fourth is the weaknesses of supporting institution capacity at the level of farmers group (POKTAN) and its associations (GAPOKTAN) which make farmers have weaker bargaining position, limited access to information, capital, and technological resources.

Keywords: Chain analysis, Corn commodity value, Farmers’ income