Sustainability Strategy for Organic Paddy Farming Business toward Global Market: Network Process Analysis Approach

Abstract

Go Organic was launched by the Indonesian Government in 2010; nevertheless, its progress has encountered issues and constraints. Farming products, especially organic paddy, have been unable to satisfy export demand since organically certified agricultural land has not yet reached its goal. This study aims to investigate the sustainability strategy of organic paddy farming in the global market. The exploratory investigation was undertaken in Ngawi Regency of East Java. The study surveyed 90 organic/converted rice producers as respondents. Data analysis was performed by Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS), which was followed by Network Process Analysis (NPA). MDS was utilized to assess the sustainability of the five dimensions: environmental, economic, social, institutional, and technological. Meanwhile, NPA was conducted based on the MDS analysis findings to identify the essential methods for sustainability improvement. The research unveiled that the environmental, economic, social, and institutional dimensions were quite sustainable. However, the technological dimension was less sustainable. Multidimensionally, organic paddy farming was quite sustainable. Based on the identified priority strategy, increasing the availability of organic matter and organisms in the soil would improve the sustainability of organic paddy farming. It was accomplished by incorporating straw, livestock manure, fermented farming waste, azolla, earthworms, eels, and organic pesticides into the soil, increasing the long-term quality and quantity of organic paddy farming.