RURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EXPENDITURES IN VILLAGE B, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA
Nanu Achmad Sanusi (Adv.Dr. Bernard F. Stanton), Dr. Bernard F.
Stanton
-
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to analyze a set of village-level data, in order to obtain better information about the socioeconomic condition of households in the study village. More specifically, it seeks: (1) to determine the factors responsible for the level of income, (2) to measure the level of income and consumption expenditures, and (3) to determine sources of income and patterns of consumption expenditures.
The unit of observation throughout the study is the household, viewed as interdependent and roughly overlapping as both a production unit and a consumption unit. Production has been defined broadly to include all measurable income-earning activities of the household, both agricultural and non-agricultural. For most parts of the analysis, average household attributes are constructed using household information stratified according to the size of landholdings.
The findings of this study provide support for the prevailing view that among basic resources, farm size (landholdings) is a key factor determining family income. Recognizing the important variability in income and consumption among village households, the evidence clearly relates household income to land asset status.
Evidence of rural poverty was shown to exist among the people of the study village. The basic problems are limited resources and lack of profitable employment opportunities. As a consequence, per capita income and food consumption are low, and many of the people in the study village are deficient with regard to nutritional needs, based on the data obtained. About one third of the total households were below the poverty line.
The nutritional standard in terms of calorie, protein, and fat intake per capita per day was relatively low. The landless and small farmers were often short of calories and protein, according to the minimum recommended standards. Only the largest farmers were able to reach the minimum nutritional standards.
About 70 percent of the income of an average household in the study village was generated from agriculture. Agricultural income was more important for large farmers than for small farmers, while income from labor outside the household was important for small farmers and the landless. Agricultural income was derived mainly from rice culture on irrigated land (sawah), from secondary crops on dryland (tegal), and from fruits and other crops in home gardens (pekarangan). Off-farm income derived from laboring within and outside the village or from working in nearby cities.
Farmers in the study village qualify as relatively modern in that they have the awareness and willingness to use recent rice farming technology. Almost all farmers in the village used fertilizer and the amounts equaled the official recommendations,on the average. Both national improved and local varieties were planted. While the average rice yield in the village was not very different from the national average, it was still below the potential yield obtained in farmers' fields and at the agricultural experiment station.
Rural poverty which exists in the study village should be alleviated by increasing income-generating alternatives. Needed are technological and concommitant institutional changes that increase the cultivated acreage insofar as this is possible, that increase output per hectare cultivated, and that improve the distribution of production and employment.
This leads to an agricultural and rural development strategy that has three principal attributes: (1) It is a program for action with a focus on the rural poor. (2) Its main economic goal is to increase the productivity of this key group. (3) An important role is assigned to the beneficiaries as participants in the planning and execution of program components.
Kata Kunci : rural household income
