Page 373 - Ranah Studi Agraria: Penguasaan Tanah dan Hubungan Agraris

Ranah Studi Agraria

on the one hand are remarkable evidence of the ingenuity of
Java’s farmers-despite small farm sizes, widespread illiteracy
and the uneven record of the various agencies whose task is to
serve them in the application of science in the process of pro-

duction. This applies to both smaller and larger farmers, to
both owner-operatorsand tenants (technology adoption and
yields are not markedly influenced by the form of land tenure, cf.
Sajogyo and Collier 1972:14), and to both men and women (the
latter being important decision-makers in agricultural produc-
tion, cf. White and Hastuti 1980). On the other hand, the single
most important economic factor promoting yield increases has
undoubtedly been state pricing policies, in particular the mas-
sive fertilizer subsidy which since 1972 has roughly halved the
real price of fertilizer. In 1971 farmers in the nine villages paid
between 1.16 and 1.65 kg paddy equivalent for each kilogram of
fertilizer, while in 1981 they paid only between 0.61 and 0.75 kg
(Masjidin Siregar and Aladin Nasution 1984:135).
Mechanization in paddy cultivation has occurred in only
two villages. In Mariuk, the area of sawah prepared with tractors
had risen from a very small proportion in 1971 to more than 90
in 1981. This development seems related to the stricter cultiva-
tion schedules (shortening the land-preparation period) result-

ing from the improved irrigation system already mentioned. In
Geneng, tractors are a more recent innovation and coincided
with the introduction since 1978 of water pumps for dry season
cultivation; these pumps like the tractors are purchased by larger
farmers (in most cases, with subsidized bank credit or dealer
credit) and used both on their own fields and for hire to other
farmers. Tractors in this village were at first used solely for

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