Prospecting postharvest processing of agricultural and social forest products at Gerlang Village, Central Java

Abstract

Farmers' poverty and forest destruction are common problems in social forest areas of Central Java, Indonesia, including Gerlang Village, a rural area in Batang Regency. Major of the population of this village is members of Social Forest Farmer Group. This study aimed to study the prospect of postharvest processing of agricultural and social forest products to improve both economic level of forest farmers and preservation quality of forests at the Village. Information collection was conducted through a field survey, direct interview and literature study followed by a strength, weakness, opportunity, and thread analysis. The study had been carried out during August 2019 with sample size of 10 social forest farmers. The obtained data was then qualitatively analyzed. The study revealed that major problems of social forest farmers at the village are: Dependence of farmers' income on the selling of raw potato, falling of potato price due to overproduction, unavailability of postharvest processing of potatoes, lack of encouragement towards cultivation of Carica and Tamarillo trees as part of forest preservation, high competition in processing products of Carica and Tamarillo at present, lack of farmers' skills in financial management and marketing of agricultural products. To cope with the problems, it is necessary to process raw potatoes into flour, chips and sticks and to support diversification of Carica and Tamarillo processed products. Farmers' financial management skills including e-commerce strategies should also be increased.