Carrying Capacity of Agricultural Land in Toll Road Construction in Sragen, Indonesia, 2011–2020

Abstract

Sragen Regency has enormous agricultural potential and is among one of the largest rice suppliers for the population of Central Java, Indonesia. However, since the construction of the Solo-Kertosono toll road that passes through the regency, there have been more farmlands converted for non-agricultural purposes. This study was conducted to determine the extent of land conversion into a toll road and assess the carrying capacity of agricultural land from 2011 to 2020. To identify land conversion, data from the Purwodadi Road Management Center in the regency were analyzed. Meanwhile, the mathematical formula introduced by Odum et al. was applied to the secondary data obtained from the Bureau of Statistics to calculate carrying capacity. Results show that from 2011 to 2020, rice fields were converted most extensively into toll roads, with an average of 85.28% conversion. Further, the agricultural land’s carrying capacity in affected districts fluctuated across these years due to several factors, including harvested area, rice production, productivity, and water availability for irrigation.