Identification Of Institutional Actors In Cocoa Agribusiness Planning And Sustainability: Evidence From Bantaeng, Indonesia

Abstract

Agricultural development and its sustainability is influenced not only by technical farming issues, but also by agricultural institutional issues that have not been well planned. Strengthening and good coordination between institutions are needed to support the success of a program. Improving farmers' knowledge and skills has been done through various methods such as field schools, farmer courses, counseling, and so on. However, farmers' awareness in adopting agricultural information and innovations is still minimal. In addition, the lack of supervision in every implementation of government programs is also mentioned as a cause of the lack of technology transfer to farmers. Processes that involve institutions, both in the form of organizational institutions and institutional norms and arrangements, are generally still centered on a certain scale of development process. There are indications that there are institutions that should play a role, but do not play a significant role, as well as weak management and coordination functions, which are the main focus of this research. This study identifies and analyzes the institutions that play a role in the planning and sustainability of cocoa agribusiness. This research uses Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) analysis to explain complex structures based on elements and formulate hierarchical levels of relationships between elements. The results show that the institutions that there are three institutions that are key actors in planning and sustainability of cocoa agribusiness namely, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises & Trade, and also the Agricultural Extension Center. This indicates that the planning and sustainability of cocoa agribusiness is determined by the major role played by the three institutions, which are key actors supported by institutions at lower levels such as the Regional Development Planning Agency, Research Institutions/ Universities, Enterprises, Marketing Institutions, Extension Workers, Farmer Groups (‘Gapoktan’), Farmers, Banking Institutions, and Cocoa Organization. Institutions that play a role need to work together to ensure that cocoa agribusiness planning and sustainability are well targeted and coordinated.