BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

The Indonesian Government is promoting sorghum as an alternative commodity to substitute wheat. The cultivation of this commodity on dryland is initiated in forestry areas through social programs. This study aimed to analyze the economic feasibility, perception of farmers, and environmental sustainability of sorghum-eucalyptus agroforestry in Majalengka.

METHODS: 

This study innovatively combined qualitative and quantitative methods to assess economic, social, and environmental aspects across five dimensions, namely business organization, actors, working mechanisms, economic impacts, and sustainability of business and environment. Data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews with questionnaires, containing 5 dimensions and 23 attributes. The data collected were analyzed using the revenue-cost ratio, Likert scale, and scoring formulation, as well as multi-dimensional scale method. The level of environmental sustainability status and leverage attributes were examined using the Rapfish program and Monte Carlo analysis.

FINDINGS: 

Sorghum-eucalyptus agroforestry was economically feasible with a revenue-cost ratio value higher than one. Farmers’ perceptions regarding the five dimensions of sorghum-eucalyptus were positive except for the operational mechanisms, and business and environmental sustainability. A distinfuished area of unfavorable perception was the use of sorghum waste as a substrate for renewable energy. The environmental sustainability index for sorghum-eucalyptus agroforestry was categorized as low except for the economic (61.9) and actor (52.3) which attained the moderately sustainable. The results showed that the sustainability analysis using multi-dimensional scale could be used as a guide in formulating strategies for enhancing and developing sorghum-eucalyptus agroforestry in the future.

CONCLUSION: 

The problems in this study were related to the institutional governance of agroforestry business. The inclusion of the community, government, and private sector was unequal in carrying out  the sustainability function of each dimension. The challenge for the future was proper and sustainable management of development efforts to realize economic sustainability, add value for society, and ensure environmental sustainability in agroforestry areas.

Beef has been seen as one of the strategic commodities in Indonesia. As the awareness of people to protein consumption increasing, demand for beef and its prices are also rising. However, the rising consumer price of beef is not followed by the increasing price of beef at the producer level. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the transmission of beef prices at the consumer and producer level. This study used secondary data from the Agency for Central Statistics of Indonesia. The data used were the consumer and producer prices of beef from 2008 to 2016. The data were analyzed using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results show that the prices of beef at the consumer and the producer level are asymmetric and have uni direct relationships. The consumer prices of beef influence the producer prices of beef and not vice versa. It is recommended for the Government to formulate policies that could facilitate transparent information for every actor along the beef market chain. In the long-run, the Government needs to increase the population of domestic cattle and give incentives to domestic cattle farmers with large business scales.

Beef is one of the strategic livestock commodities in Indonesia. As demand increases, the price of beef increases and tends to be volatile. The increased volatility in beef prices could influence production decision and the supply of beef. This study aimed to investigate the price volatility and the impact of price volatility on the supply response of beef in Indonesia. This study used secondary data obtained from various related institutions. Volatility was estimated using the GARCH (p,q) model and the supply response model using OLS model. The empirical results indicated that among the estimated GARCH models, the GARCH (2,3) seemed to be particularly appropriate to describe the beef price supply response. Beef price volatility in Indonesia was found to be low and persistent in the long run. Price uncertainty appeared to have a substantial negative effect on Indonesian beef production. The slow adjustment of farmers to demand and supply shocks indicate the importance of import as a temporary policy to fulfill the demand of beef in the short and medium-run.