Socio-economic aspect and carrying capacity of agricultural land resources to support the development of strategic agricultural commodities
H S Mamat, Edi Husen
Abstract
Abstract The challenges of future agricultural development in Indonesia are still very heavy in relation to the carrying capacity of land resources and socio-economic aspects. This paper aimed to analyze the important steps of strategic commodity development based on the role of socio-economic aspects and the support of agricultural land carrying capacity. The analyses showed that the contribution of the agricultural sector to national income is quite high as indicated by the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) at around 10.27% of the national GDP and current agricultural commodities as a source of foreign exchange come from oil palm and cocoa. However, fluctuation in market demand and price of agricultural commodities still depends on supply and demand. The supply is affected by climate disturbances and natural disasters, while the demand is related to the growing population. Socio-economic aspects as the prerequisites for agricultural commodity development include markets, farmer exchange rates and other supporting facilities. Land resources include the availability of land and irrigation water. The carrying capacity of rice fields in Indonesia is still very heavy, namely 34 people ha −1 of rice fields, while neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand are 14.0 and 2.5 people ha −1 , respectively.