Indonesia is the second biggest natural rubber producer in the world; however its processed rubber has low quality and price. This is because the rubber plantation most cultivated by non estate plantation (smallholding plantation). Central government of Indonesia has developed some policies to overcome this problem and one of them is to establish the Processing and Marketing Unit of Rubber material or PMUR ('UPPB') since 2008. However until 2014 only a few farmers (around 5%) had sold their products with PMUR and most farmers sell their products through traditional marketing channel. This study's aims are to discuss how big impact the existing of new marketing channel (PMUR) to farmer's income is. Study conducted in two districts (Banyuasin and Musi Rawas) of South Sumatera Province, which represent two kinds of marketing channels, those are the auction market system and the partenership market system. Sampling taken of 64 farmers (as respondents), represent participant and non participant of new market system. Data collection was done in April to September 2017. The result of this study shows that there are significantly different income for farmer's participants (PMUR) and non participants (non PUMR). The farmer's income at the auction system is higher (abaout 57%) and the farmer's income at the partnership system is higher (about 64%) than traditional marketing system. However income of both new marketing systems or PUMR (auction and partnership systems) are not significantly different. KEY WORDS Auction, partnership, rubber, income, processing and marketing unit.

The low quality of Indonesian smallholders’ rubber material has encouraged the government to make a policy to establish Processing and Marketing Units (PMUs). However, after 10 years of running the policy, the number of smallholder rubber farmers who are members of a PMU is still very small, even though by becoming a member of a PMU, farmers’ income increases as a result of rising prices. There have been no studies of the reasons why smallholders have not joined as members of a PMU. Therefore this study tries to discern these reasons and PMUs’ performance. The study population comprised 240 smallholders, half of whom represented PMU members and the other half non-members. These were interviewed to record the smallholders’ reasons to join or not join a PMU in South Sumatera Province, the largest rubber production area in Indonesia. Constraints for smallholders to join a PMU include already having a customer middleman, debt with the middleman, and the distance from the farmer’s house to the middleman’s house. Major supports for smallholders to join a PMU include the rubber material price, easily procured support from the government, and the distance of the farmer’s house. PMUs’ performance did not significantly affect the participation of farmers in becoming or not becoming members. Even though PMUs’ performance was good, the interest of smallholders in becoming PMU members did not increase.

This study analyzes the effect of the use of subsidized fertilizer in reducing production costs and its effect on the income of lowland rice farming in Tanjung Lago District. The use of subsidized fertilizers as a factor of production in addition to increase productivity is also expected to reduce production costs and can affect the income of rice farmers. The approach model in this research is statistical analysis. The results showed that the use of subsidized fertilizers reduced production costs by 5% and affected the income of rice farmers in Tanjung Lago District. For one hectare of land at the same time during the planting season, farmers who receive 3 types of subsidized fertilizers earn an average of Rp. 21.913.710, - and for farmers who receive 2 types of subsidized fertilizer, the average income reaches Rp. 14.411.540, - with the percentage difference in income reaching 34%. This difference in income is not only influenced by the suppression of production costs from inputs using subsidized fertilizers but is also influenced by farmers' income due to differences in production results.

Conversion of land encompasses not only changes inthe use of land for cultivation of food to non-food product but also includes the conversion of land in use to unused land. Changes in the management of water in the area of agro-ecosystem in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) District has resulted in a change of use of paddy swampy land. Research was aimed :1) to analyze the differences in the income of farmers of rice due to the changes management water in the area of agro-ecosystems; and 2) to analyze the level of welfare of the rice farmers after adapting to the current environmental conditions. Research was carried out in the Belanti Village, Sirah Pulau Padang District, Ogan Komering Ilir District, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Location was selected purposively as the village was exposed to routine annual flood since 2008. The farmers has experinced crop and harvest failure, despite the fact that it has served as rice granary since 1992. As survey method with structured questionaires was applied in this research. Sampling was conducted purposively against 42 rice farmers who experienced crop failure. The primary and secondary data were collected and then subjected to land rent value analysis and t-test analysis. Results showed that: 1) changes in water management have reduced household income of farmers by 50.06%; and 2) the level of welfare of rice farmers is still low even though they have made adaptation efforts. To improve the quality of living for farmers affected by flooding, there is a need for integrated cooperation between the government of the country, palm plantation companies, and farmers.

This study aims to determine the factual conditions regarding the scale of business and technology adoption related to the need for rice agricultural labor, the amount of production and productivity that have an impact on meeting the living needs of farmers and their families. The research method used for primary data collection with Multi Stage Random Sampling. Research areas are Musi Rawas Regency and Banyuasin Regency, which respectively represent agricultural areas with technical irrigation and tidal swamps. In each district, two villages were selected, so that there were four sample villages, and 50 farmers in each village were selected, so there were 200 respondent farmers. The results showed rice farming in tidal areas use less labor but wider cultivated area, higher productivity and welfare than farmers in irrigated areas. Potential labor transition from one sector to others in irrigated areas is greater than the tidal area, so rice farming sustainability in tidal land is than technical irrigation area.