This study aimed to report maize yield in a dryland area of North Lombok as affected by rainfall variability. A three-year study was conducted during a period of maize growing season (December to April) in 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 in Gumantar village, North Lombok. Daily rainfall data was collected from a rain gauge installed in one of maize farmers’ land. Estimation of drain upper limit and crop lower limit was done based on gravimetric method. Hand-held core kits were used to collect soil samples at 0-15cm, 15-30cm, 30-60cm depth at sowing, fast vegetative growth stage (35 days after sowing=DAS), grain filling stage (85 DAS), and at harvest. Maize yield data were collected from 20 farmers that all grew maize as main crop and legume crop (ground nut or mung bean) as secondary crop. There was great rainfall variability in term of the beginning of rainy season, volume and distribution of the rain as well as the occurrence of dry-spell period resulted in great maize yield variability. The highest maize yield recorded was 8.4 ton/ha and the lowest was 0.6 ton/ha. Growing legume crop in addition to maize can be a good practice in dryland area to avoid total yield loss.

No abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a broad impact on several aspects of human life, one of which is the issue of food sufficiency. Due to social restrictions, the agricultural sector, which plays a role in producing food for humans, may be affected by the pandemic. These restrictions impact the availability of farm labor and the market, both agricultural inputs, and outputs. This three-year study examines the factors that influence the productivity and income of maize farmers in the dry sandy lands of Gumantar village, North Lombok, Indonesia, before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The method used was descriptive quantitative with 50 respondents, determined by accidental sampling. The study results showed variations in land area ownership of respondent farmers, variations in crop productivity, and variations in the form of products sold, such as selling cobs and selling grains. Maize production was more affected by rainfall, fertilizer availability, and pest disturbances than the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the income of maize farmers due to restrictions on the mobility of maize buyers.

Tobacco is a leading commodity that has high economic value. The derivative products from tobacco commodities have contributed greatly to state revenues through excise taxes, employment, and sources of farmers’ income. This research aims to; 1) explain the characteristics of tobacco farming; 2) investigate the economic feasibility of tobacco farming; 3) analyze the determinants of tobacco farmers’ income. The research was conducted in Suralaga District, East Lombok Regency. The study was conducted from July 2021 to October 2021. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Primary data was collected from 40 tobacco farmers and analyzed by with R/C ratio and multiple linear regression. The results of this study indicate that tobacco farming is declared economically feasible, This result is evidenced by the R/C ratio value is 1.67 > 1. Furthermore, the results of the regression estimation show that determine the income of tobacco farmers are the tobacco production, land area, seed cost, fertilizer cost, pesticide cost, labor costs, and farming experience.

Pencatatan dalam pembukuan usahatani merupakanan kegiatan esensial dalam manajemen usahatani. Pencatatan usahatani merupakan media yang efektif dalam mengontrol kebijakan pengelolaan keuangan usahatani. Tujuan kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah untuk; 1) memberikan pemahaman kepada petani terkait manajemen pencatatan usahatani; 2) memberikan keterampilan kepada petani untuk membuat catatan pembukuan usahatani. Pengabdian dilaksanakan di Desa Otak Rarangan, Kabupaten Lombok Timur. Sasaran kegiatan adalah para petani dari perwakilan kelompok tani. Metode pelaksanaan kegiatan dengan metode Forum Group Discussion (FGD) dan Workshop. Metode pengukuran tingkat pemahaman dan keterampilan terkait manajemen pencatatan usahatani menggunakan instrumen kuesioner pre-test dan post-test pada saat kegiatan penyuluhan. Berdasarkan Hasil pre-test dan post-test pada saat kegiatan pengabdian, telah terjadi peningkatan pemahaman manajemen pencatatan usahatani, kategori paham meningkat  dari 25% menjadi 45%, kategori cukup paham meningkat dari 40% menjadi 55% dan kategori tidak paham menurun dari 35% menjadi 0%. Hasil pre-test dan post-test juga menunjukkan terjadi peningkatan keterampilan petani dalam membuat catatan pembukuan usahatani, dimana kategori terampil meningkat  dari 20% menjadi 40%, kategori cukup paham meningkat dari 30% menjadi 50% dan kategori tidak paham menurun dari 50% menjadi 10%.