Tea smallholder sustainability, a case study in Cisitu Village, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

These days tea smallholders are facing droughts due to climate change. The government has several programs that aim at helping tea smallholders to solve their problems. The objective of this paper is to examine the sustainable livelihood approach of the tea smallholders by integrating the government programs and the resources that they have. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 tea smallholders in Cisitu Village in West Java. This village is about 25 kilometres from Sukabumi City, the capital city of the district of Sukabumi. Our analysis shows that smallholders with small resources tend to become poorer. Besides the limitation of their resources, the government programs do not seem to facilitate them. On the other hand, smallholders with strong and diverse assets gain benefits from the government programs. However, social capital is the main resource that could support poor smallholders to relieve their financial pressure. By joining the farmer group institutions, farmers will be supported to fulfil their farming needs. Besides the group institutions, almost all smallholders support their financial needs by running grocery stalls, planting cash crops, or having other another job in other areas