The Mediating Role of Agile Governance: The Influence of Development Planning and Community Participation on Sustainable Rice Farming Development

This study aims to examine the factors influencing sustainable rice agricultural development in Takalar Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study employed a quantitative explanatory approach to examine the relationships among development planning, community participation, agile governance, and sustainable rice agricultural development. Development planning and community participation were specified as exogenous variables, agile governance as a mediating variable, and sustainable rice agricultural development as the endogenous variable. Data were collected through questionnaires from 63 respondents comprising civil servants from relevant government agencies, officials from the regional development planning and research institution, agricultural extension personnel, and heads of farmer groups in Takalar Regency. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that development planning has a positive and significant effect on sustainable rice agricultural development, while community participation does not have a significant direct effect. Agile governance has a positive and significant effect on sustainable rice agricultural development. Furthermore, agile governance significantly mediates the relationship between development planning and sustainable rice agricultural development. Agile governance also significantly mediates the relationship between community participation and sustainable rice agricultural development. These findings indicate that sustainable rice agricultural development requires not only well-targeted development planning and community participation but also agile governance capable of responding rapidly, adapting to changing conditions, and placing human needs at the center of policy implementation. The study recommends strengthening integrated development planning, meaningful community involvement, inter-agency collaboration, and professional implementation of agile governance to support sustainable rice agricultural development in Takalar Regency.