The Potency of Sugar Palm (Arenga piñata) Household Industry to Contribute Into the Farmer’s Income in Sindang Jaya Village, Rejang Lebong

Abstract

Rejang Lebong district is one of the palm sugar producers in Bengkulu Province. The sugar palm (Arenga piñata) household Industry has been establishing for a long time ago. The household industry plays an important role in society's welfare. The aim of the study was to identify the farmer characteristic and calculated the contribution of Arenga piñata household industry to the income of farmers. The study area was at Sindang Jaya Village, Rejang Lebong District because it belongs to villages with high producers of sugar palm. The study had been conducted from March up to May 2016. The methodology was observation and survey with the number of respondents 26 farmers. Collected data were analyzed using simple statistics. The largest percentage of farmers' age ranged from 43-56 years, namely 50.00%, with an average age of the farmers being 48 years. It showed that most sugar palm farmers belonged to the productive age. The largest farmer education level is at the level of education for 6 years, amounting to 46.15%; so it was one of the reasons why the sugar palm farmer has difficulty receiving applied technology dealing with the processing of sugar palm and sugar palm plantation. The total income of sugar palm farmers was about Rp 1,418,621 -Rp 15,312,790 per month, with an average of Rp. 2,933,319.60 per month. The contribution of sugar palm households to the income of sugar palm farmers reached about 58,95 %.