Empowering Farmers in Conserving Soil and Water in the Sampeyan Watershed, Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Empowering farmers in managing the watershed Sampean Situbondo for soil and water conservation is urgently needed. This is intended to know the efforts of empowering farmers in managing the interrelationships between the human capital, physical capital, social capital, and farmers’ perceptions and the government's role in the process of empowerment of farmers, as well as their relation to the empowerment of farmers. It is expected that we get the economic benefits and environmental services for the development and preservation of ecosystems in the watershed Sampean Situbondo.

This study deploves two methods, namely the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the accuracy of the hypothetical models that have been developed empirically through the theoretical justification and the relationship between the variables built into the model and SWOT analysis for the direct and indirect policy implications to be done in empowering farmers to conserve soil and water in the watershed Sampean Situbondo.

The results show that: 1) the human capital significantly influences the empowerment process, 2) the role of government significant affects the process of empowerment, 3) farmers' perceptions significantly influence the empowerment process, 4) the empowerment process significantly influences the empowerment of farmers, 5) the results of the SWOT analysis suggest that the factors supporting (dry land availability for agriculture is so vast and labors in agriculture are abundant), inhibiting factors (lack of human capital, physical capital, social capital, farmers' perceptions, the role of government, the process of empowerment, and empowerment of farmers), opportunity factors (increasing the empowerment of farmers through better institutional collaboration and consolidation of government agencies, non-higher education, and financial institutions) and threat factors (developing dryland, farmer empowerment through soil and water conservation, and the limitations of the technology).

Key Words: Farmer Empowerment, Soil and Water Conservation