IDENTIFICATION OF SOCIAL NETWORK INVOLVEMENT IN THE DIFFUSION PROCESS OF ORGANIC RICE AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION AT SARINAH ORGANIC FARMING GROUP, BUMIWANGI VILLAGE, BANDUNG REGENCY

• Main Author: Amin Gutama, Gani
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/66168
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Organic rice farming is an innovation in sustainable agricultural technology that can add more value to rice farming products. The entry of organic rice innovation into the farmer's environment requires an innovation diffusion process which consists of a series of communication processes from obtaining information to implementing or rejecting the innovation. The series of innovation diffusion processes certainly involve many actors in a broad scope and it must pay attention to the innovation information flow and the role of each actor for its implementation. The approach to conveying information so that farmers are willing to adopt innovations is very important in this process. The decision to adopt farmer innovations is influenced by the relationships established in the network, so that social networks are crucially involved in the innovation diffusion process. But in reality, the relationship between innovation diffusion and social network attributes has not been explored extensively. Based on that, this study aims to understand the involvement of social networks in the diffusion process of organic rice farming innovations in the Sarinah Organic Farming Group. The data collection of this research was conducted by means of a primary survey through interviews and observations, and a secondary survey by means of a literature study. This study using mixed approach with social network analysis as a quantitative analysis method and content analysis as a qualitative analysis method. The Sarinah Organic Farming Group was chosen as the object of study because it has adopted organic rice farming since 2007 and has won many agriculture awards from the government. Based on the analysis, the social network priciples have important involvement and role to influence the diffusion of innovations process in organic rice farming. The central actors in the network, the opinion leaders and agents of change, can influence the information flow and innovation adoption decision. The existence of a central actor influences the decision-making of adopters in adopting innovations. The closeness of the actor the dependence of the actor in providing and obtaining information. the presence of intermediaries and geodesic distances affect the ease and speed of adopters in accessing innovation information. Network density does not affect adoption decisions & ease of access to innovation information.