Analysis of Sugarcane Farming in the Sugar Mill District Semboro Jember, Indonesia: A Data Envelopment Analysis Application

Abstract

Sugarcane farming play a pivotal role in Indonesia as the major source of raw material for sugar industry in the country. With increasing population and econonomic activities, Indonesia continues facing excess demand for sugar to meet domestic consumption. Efforts to increase sugar production is hampered by lack of land availability and the declining in sugarcane productivity due to ratooning system practiced by sugarcane farmers. The efficiency, therefore, is one of main problems that need to be addressed in sugarcane industries. This paper attempts to assess such an efficiency aspect of sugarcane cultivation at farmers level. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to assess the efficiency of sugarcane plantation in major sugar mill area in Jember, East Java province Indonesia. Results show that existing sugarcane farming is inefficient and call for serious policy intervention in order to support the livelihood of rural community and sugar industries nationally. Lesson learned for policy makers on managing sugarcane farming were then drawn from this study.