Persepsi dan Minat Masyarakat Terhadap Urban Farming di Kota Pekanbaru

Abstract

Food security is a global development issue, especially in urban areas, including Pekanbaru City. The food source to meet the needs of residents in Pekanbaru City still depends on the surrounding area. The availability of independent food is a big challenge for the people of Pekanbaru City. Even though Pekanbaru City still has an area of abandoned land covering an area of 3,883.7 hectares which can be used for urban farming. Urban farming is one of the initiatives to produce food independently through using yards, unused land, gardens around the house, open space, and vertical use of space (vermiculture). However, implementing urban farming in Pekanbaru City is still not the best. This study seeks to determine respondents' perceptions of the social, economic, and ecological benefits of urban farming, as well as respondents' interest in participating in urban farming management. This research was carried out in August 2022 using a descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques for questionnaires, interviews, documentation, and observations. The respondents of this study totalled 102 people who were urban farming managers both individually and in purposively selected groups. The collected data underwent validity and reliability testing and then analyzed descriptively with the Likert scale. This study found that respondents' perceptions of the benefits of urban farming, both from social, economic, and ecological aspects, scored 3.17, agreeing with the criteria. Social benefits had the highest score (3.34) compared to economic (2.95) and ecological (3.24) benefits. Additionally, due to the high interest in managing urban farming, Pekanbaru City has the opportunity to advance urban farming. But according to this study, to maximize the community's socialization and education on the advantages of urban farming and boost the economic and ecological benefits, it is encouraged to commercialize urban agriculture by using vacant land.