Social Capital and Community Empowerment: Towards Sustainable Agricultural

Abstract

Sustainable development through community empowerment requires the role of social capital. This research aims to find out the role of essential social capital and supporting social capital in empowering organic farmers toward sustainable agricultural development. The research method used is a qualitative method with Nvivo-12 plus tools. Researchers become the main instrument with data collection techniques using observation and in-depth interviews. The results of the study show that there are two main actors in empowering organic farmers, namely bureaucratic actors and entrepreneurial actors. Both actors recognize the essential role of utilized social capital in bonding and linking, while the support role of utilized social capital is in the form of linking. Bonding social capital is strengthened by the interaction of knowledge and work motivation; bridging social capital is determined by consistency and solutions to agricultural problems, and social linking capital is determined by price certainty and agricultural product certification. Bonding, bridging, and linking social capital empower communities toward sustainable agricultural development. The implication is that social capital has an essential role and a driving role in empowering organic farmers toward sustainable agricultural development.