The sustainability of development in the agricultural sector depends on farmers as actors. There is a tendency for farmers’ children to be disinterested as farmers for a wide variety of reasons. This study aims to identify the perception of farmer children towards their interest in continuing their parents’ work as farmers and to analyze the factors that influence the chances of choosing to work as a farmer and not as a farmer. The results of this study are expected to be a reference for determining strategies that increase the interest of farmer’s children to become farmers. The data analysis method used consisted of a combination of both qualitative and quantitative analysis. This research was conducted in Muara Rungga Village, Pasemah Air Keruh District, Empat Lawang Regency, South Sumatra. This research method used the survey method. The sample frame in this study was paddy rice farmers with children aged 15-30 years. A simple random sampling method selected the total sample of 35 respondent farmers. The study results explained that the interest of farmer children to continue their parents’ work as farmers were included in the lack of interest category. The higher the age level of the farmer’s child, the greater the chances of the farmer’s child’s decision to work as a farmer, and the higher the level of education, the more significantly the events of the child choosing to work as a farmer. The findings of this study are that farm children are better educated and more skilled at using technology. The development of agriculture in the future cannot be as mediocre, and it must be completely changed according to the development of knowledge and technology so that agriculture does not seem challenging, dirty, and unattractive. Thus the farmer’s child will be interested in working as a farmer.

South Sumatra has succeeded in meeting local rice needs. Nonetheless, rice production in South Sumatra has not been able to significantly contribute to meeting the ever-growing needs of Indonesia's population. Therefore, the government is always trying to increase rice production by increasing productivity and expanding the rice planting area. Rice is not only an economic good, but has become a political item. Therefore, government intervention is quite intense in stabilizing the availability of rice. One of the interventions carried out by the government of South Sumatra is targeting the planting area as a response to the availability of rice in the previous year. The purpose of this study was to analyze the response of planting area at the farmer level to changes in rice availability and supply elasticity in South Sumatra by using the previous year's planted area and the availability of rice from South Sumatra as determining indicators. The method used in this study is multiple linear regression using secondary data over a period of 20 years. The results show that the availability of rice in South Sumatra significantly affects the area planted with an elastic supply elasticity. Therefore, government programs such as printing new land or adding planting area (LTT), land optimization through increasing the planting index, and using abandoned land are urgently needed to support sustainable rice self-sufficiency in South Sumatra.