Sustainable management of smallholder oil palm farming during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The emergence of the CoronaVirus Disease in 2019, until now has had a negative impact on various sectors of people's lives including the agricultural sector. Smallholder oil palm farming has also experienced a negative impact due the pandemic. This research aims to knowing the situation of smallholder oil palm farming before and during pandemic; and to knowing the readiness of farmers to manage smallholder oil palm farming; and to knowing the sustainability of the management of smallholder oil palm farming during the pandemic. This research was conducted in STM Hilir Subdistrict, Deli Serdang District, North Sumatra, Indonesia, which was carried out in September - December 2020. The data used were primary and secondary data which were analyzed descriptively with income analysis method and simple tabulation. Based on the results of data analysis, concluded: smallholder oil palm farming during the COVID-19 pandemic was not stable, due to an increase in production costs of 20.2%/month, and a decrease income of farmers by 6.69%/harvest season/ha. In period of COVID-19 pandemic-19 59% of farmers said they are ready to develop their farming in a sustainable manner. Sustainable management smallholder oil palm farming during the pandemic is going well, based on indicators of ecological conservation, where farmers tend to use organic fertilizers. In accordance with the results of the study suggested; so that the government provides continuous counseling to farmers, provides incentives, subsidies for production facilities for farmers, so that farmers continue to apply health protocols in carrying out their farming activities.