Potato cultivation on the west slope of Mount Slamet: millennial farmers perceptions and intentions for conservation-based farming

Abstract

A comprehension on the millennial farmers’ perceptions about land degradation, and their intentions to perform conservation-based farming is the initial effort in formulating appropriate programs and policies to control land degradation on the Mount Slamet’s western slope, Central Java. This study aims to: 1) explore the perceptions of millennial farmers about land degradation in potato farming and 2) discover the effect of these perceptions on their intention to do pro-environmental farming. The research was conducted in Paguyangan Brebes from January to March 2022 with a total sample of 189 millennial farmers aged 19-39 years. Research data were collected using a questionnaire with a Likert scale of 1-5. The analysis used was descriptive analysis and SEM-PLS through WarpPLS 7.0 software. The results showed that 96.83% of the millennial farmers realized that there had been a phenomenon of land degradation for potato cultivation. The decline in potato production is the strongest indicator of millennial farmers’ perceptions of land degradation conditions (LC) and land degradation risk (RISK). Both are the antecedents of millennial farmers’ intention to perform conservation-based farming (INT) partially. RISK acted as a mediating variable between LC and INT. INT reinforcement can be sought by clarifying the understanding of millennial farmers about the risk of land degradation in potato farming.