THE MOTIVES FOR CONVERSION TO ORGANIC FARMING: THE CASE OF ORGANIC RICE FARMERS IN YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

• Main Authors: , Ika Yuniarti, , Retno Widodo Dwi Pramono, S.T, M.Sc
• Format: Theses and Dissertations NonPeerReviewed
• Published: [Yogyakarta] : Universitas Gadjah Mada 2013
• Subjects: ETD
• Online Access: https://repository.ugm.ac.id/118569/; http://etd.ugm.ac.id/index.php?mod=penelitian_detail&sub=PenelitianDetail&act=view&typ=html&buku_id=58544
• Institution: Universitas Gadjah Mada

One factor accounting for the rapid growth of organic farming in recent years is conventional farmers converting to organic farming. Better understanding of the motives for conversion to organic farming would provide useful information for developing policy and strategy to promote organic farming. This paper aims to conduct an empirical investigation of the motives for conversion to organic farming. Using questionnaires, a door-to-door survey was administered to 130 organic rice farmers in Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The result of the Principles Component Analysis (PCA) identified five themes underlying motives for conversion to organic farming namely farming-related motive, holistic concern, economic motive, health and safety motives, and social motive. The results show that farming-related motives and holistic concerns are the predominant motives for conversion to organic farming, while economic motives are of lesser importance. There were differences in the importance of farming-related motives across farmers who converted in 2000-2005 and those who converted after 2005. The findings suggest that farming-related motives were more important not only among the farmers who converted earlier but also among those who converted more recently.