The Sustainability of Upland Rice Farming in Bangli District, Bali Province

This study aimed to determine index and status of upland rice farming sustainability in terms of economic, ecological, socio-cultural, legal and institutional as well as technological and infrastructural dimensions; to identify what attributes are sensitive to upland rice farming sustainability; and to establish the strategy for upland rice farming sustainability in Bangli District of Bali Province. Data analysis was performed using RAP-FARM through Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) method, leverage and prospective analysis. Based on the results, the sustainability index of upland rice farming for ecological (60.21) and socio-cultural dimension (56.98) were categorized as quite sustainable. Meanwhile, for economic (41.53), legal and institutional (27.80), technological and infrastructural dimensions (36.61) were classified as less sustainable. In multidimensional term, index value and sustainability status of upland rice farming were considered as less sustainable (44.63). On the leverage analysis, 15 sensitive attributes of 5 sustainability dimensions were acquired. On the prospective analysis, 6 key variables had a strong effect on the upland rice farming sustainability, namely last five-year government subsidies, inorganic fertilizer usage level, organic fertilizer usage level, straw utilization as organic fertilizer, rice price stability among farmers, and frequency of counseling and training activities. To improve the status of upland rice farming sustainability, efforts should be performed through intervening sensitive attributes and establishing a sustainability strategy.