How Can Rice Farmers Gain Profit? An Analysis of Sharecropping Practice among Farmers, Landowners, and Laborers in Sukadiri Subdistrict of Tangerang

Abstract

The production of rice as one of the main staple foods in Indonesia has been affected by changes in land-use that has led to a shift in land ownership. It is necessary to discuss whether the profit-sharing applied among farmers, landowners, and laborers provides benefits for farmers. This study aims to determine the characteristics, income, and efficiency of lowland rice farming with both a 50:50 crop sharing between farmers and landowners, and an 80:20 crop sharing between farmers and laborers. This study is based on survey and interviews on the sharecropping practice among rice farming community in the dry season (April – September) tahun 2022 in Sukadiri Subdistrict of Tangerang. Farming parameters are explained descriptively, and the farm efficiency is determined by the revenue-cost (R/C) ratio. A total sample of 44 farmers was determined purposively and proportionately. The findings demonstrated that rice farming gained a total income on the explicit cost of IDR7.311.519 per hectare. The R/C ratio of explicit cost for the sharecropping system is 4,76. Suppose the sharecropping system is replaced with a rent cash payment, the R/C ratio for total cost is 0,83 which results in a loss. This study concludes that the combination of 50:50 crop sharing with the landowner and 80:20 crop sharing with double-tapping laborers is beneficial for the existence of rice farming.