Farmers Empowerment Through Rice Production Improvement Program By The Food Security And Agriculture Service Of Kubu Raya District, West Kalimantan Province

Rice production in Kubu Raya Regency continues to decline from year to year, one of the causes is the less than optimal empowerment of farmers by the Food Security and Agriculture Service of Kubu Raya Regency. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze farmer empowerment through a rice production increase program by the Food Security and Agriculture Service of Kubu Raya Regency, as well as to identify inhibiting factors and efforts made to optimize it. The method used is qualitative descriptive, data collection techniques are semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling and supported by passive participant observation and documentation. The results of the study indicate that farmer empowerment through a rice production increase program by the Food Security and Agriculture Service (DKPP) of Kubu Raya Regency is seen in 3 (three) dimensions, namely enabling, strengthening, and supporting. From these three dimensions, it was found that farmer empowerment through a rice production increase program by the DKPP was quite good, but still not optimal. This can be seen from the distribution and participation of farmers in financial services that have not been maximized, as well as the lack of agricultural extension workers in the field. The obstacles to this empowerment include the low level of farmer economy, low Farmer Exchange Rate (NTP) for food crops, uncertain climate and weather conditions, difficult to reach geographical conditions, and limited budget owned by the agency. The efforts that have been made by the agency include providing direct training and counseling to farmers, education on rice cultivation through seminars, maximizing the provision of assistance that can reduce farmer production costs, maximizing assistance to farmers, maximizing the role of field agricultural extension workers to provide direct counseling to farmers, organizing seminars and training, and allocating budgets according to established priorities.