Farming and Production Factors of Independent Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations in Rengat Barat

Abstract

However, the production of Fresh Fruit Bunches (TBS) and rubber latex (Bokar) remains low. The objectives of this research are (1) to analyze the characteristics of farmers and the plantation agribusiness profile of oil palm and rubber, (2) to analyze the oil palm and rubber plantation agribusiness, and (3) to identify the dominant factors affecting TBS production in oil palm and Bokar production in rubber in West Rengat. The research method used was a survey with a sample size of 60 oil palm farmers and 60 rubber farmers selected through simple random sampling. The results show that 1) The average age of oil palm and rubber farmers is relatively old. Generally, the educational level of oil palm and rubber farmers is junior high school graduates. The land cultivated by oil palm and rubber farmers is their own. The average land area owned by oil palm farmers is 2.0 hectares, and rubber farmers own an average of 0.93 hectares. 2)The use of oil palm seedlings is 139 plants per year, and rubber seedlings are 488 plants per year, with fertilizer usage still below the recommended dosage. The majority of labor used comes from external family labor. 3)The net income of oil palm plantation farmers is Rp 23,347,787 per hectare per year with an Efficiency RCR of 2.37, and the net income of rubber plantation farmers is Rp 13,181,195 per hectare per year with an Efficiency RCR of 2.17, indicating that oil palm and rubber plantation agribusinesses in West Rengat are viable for development. The dominant factors influencing oil palm TBS production are the age of oil palm trees, fertilizer and labor usage, while for rubber, the factors affecting latex production are the number of trees and labor. Oil palm plantation production requires higher production costs compared to rubber plantation production.