Smallholder farmers' perceptions and future aspirations toward dairy farming development in Bandung District, West Java

Abstract

Dairy farming has an essential role in meeting the ever-increasing demand for milk. However, efforts to develop dairy farming in Indonesia are still facing various obstacles. This paper aims to analyze farmers' perceptions and expectations toward developing dairy farming and its sustainability, along with its constraints. The data used in this paper are part of the IndoDairy Smallholder Household Survey database conducted between July and September 2017, consisting of 300 smallholder dairy farm households randomly selected from KPBS Pangalengan members. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and clustering analysis. The results show that the majority of dairy farmers (>50%) rated as 'good' the availability of extension services, availability of veterinary services, availability of veterinary medicines, availability of credit, and availability of concentrates; rated as 'fair' prices paid by buyers for milk, the number of milk buyers, and quality of the grass and forages; and rated as 'bad' the price of concentrates and the availability of land to purchase. In contrast, most farmers perceived the availability of land to purchase and the price of concentrates as 'bad.' As much as 90.3% of farmers expected to increase their dairy farm operations. The majority of dairy farmers (94%) showed their willingness to participate in training in the village, especially in animal husbandry (31.2%). This study strongly suggests that the government facilitates an increased supply of quality concentrate feed at affordable prices and land availability for dairy farming development.