Adoption and advantages of eco-friendly technology application at the Shallot farming system in Indonesia

M. Mahfudz¹*, S. Saleh¹, M. Antara², A. Anshary¹, S. Bachri³, U. Made¹, U. Hasanah¹ and R.A. Rauf²

¹Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tadulako University, ID94118 Palu, Indonesia
²Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Tadulako University, ID94118 Palu, Indonesia
³Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economic, Tadulako University, ID94118 Palu, Indonesia
*Correspondence: shahabsaleh@gmail.com

Abstract:

This study aimed to evaluate the benefits farmers obtained by adopting eco-friendly technologies on local shallot cultivation in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The technology applied includes; trap crops, biofertilizers (bokashi and mycorrhiza arbuscular) biopesticides (Beauveria bassiana and Trichoderma sp.) and plastic mulch. Ninety-nine shallot farmers were selected, consisting of 35 farmers who applied the technology (adopters) and 64 farmers who did not (non adopters). Characteristics, rates of adoption, and benefits of both groups of farmers were measured and analyzed. The results showed that the level of technology adopted by the farmers was high and supported by farmer characteristics, particularly their age and education. The application of technology increases the production of shallots and the total profits of farmers by 29.5% and 79.1% respectively. In addition, adopters can reduce the costs of chemical inputs by around 69.5%. Therefore, the technology introduced provides multiple benefits for farmers; economically and environmentally.

Key words:

Awareness and adoption of precision agriculture in the Cukurova region of Turkey

M. Keskin* and Y.E. Sekerli

Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Mustafa Kemal University, TR 31040 Antakya, Hatay, Turkey
*Correspondence: keskin@mku.edu.tr, mkeskinhatay@gmail.com

Abstract:

Adoption of precision agriculture (PA) technologies has an increasing trend in developed countries. However, it is not well known in developing countries including Turkey. No study was reported on the awareness of PA in Turkey before. The objectives of this study were to assess the awareness of PA in the Cukurova region of Turkey using an interview survey study and also to briefly inform each survey participant about these technologies. The study was conducted with 164 participants that were agricultural engineers, farm equipment dealers and farmers. 90.2% of all participants reported that they followed new trends in agriculture. However, 51.8% of all participants indicated that they did not hear the term ‘PA’ before. Only 29.3% of the participants who heard the term ‘PA’ knew its concept. Internet was the most important means to gather information on new technologies. Most three well-known technologies by all participants were satellite positioning (GPS) (81.7%), geographical information systems (GIS) (69.5%) and remote sensing (61.0%) as the least known two ones were variable rate application (33.5%) and soil sampling and mapping (34.8%). In addition, a training brochure was handed out to each participant and the PA technologies were explained. 97.6% of the participants expressed that these technologies would be somehow beneficial for agriculture in Turkey. 88.4% of the participants wanted to get more detailed training on these technologies. Also, information on recent developments in the adoption of PA technologies is included in the paper.

Key words:

adoption, awareness, Cukurova Region, Precision agriculture (PA), survey, Turkey