Uma Khumairoh

Padi (Oryza sativa L.) merupakan komoditas utama dan sumber pangan pokok di Indonesia. Peningkatan jumlah penduduk yang mencapai 284,40 juta jiwa pada tahun 2025 turut meningkatkan kebutuhan beras. Namun, Kabupaten Malang sebagai salah satu sentra produksi mengalami penurunan produksi dari 161.312 ton pada tahun 2023 menjadi 147.123 ton pada tahun 2024 akibat berkurangnya luas panen dan menurunnya produktivitas. Kondisi ini menunjukkan perlunya peningkatan efisiensi penggunaan input produksi, seperti benih, pupuk, pestisida, herbisida, dan tenaga kerja agar biaya produksi tetap terkendali dan hasil panen lebih stabil. Keragaman praktik budidaya yang diterapkan petani juga menyulitkan analisis sistem produksi, sehingga pendekatan tipologi diperlukan untuk mengelompokkan sistem pertanian padi dan mempermudah evaluasi efisiensi tiap tipe. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada November 2025 hingga Januari 2026 di Desa Kemiri, Kecamatan Kepanjen, Kabupaten Malang, Jawa Timur. Analisis data menggunakan pendekatan statistik multivariat, yaitu Principal Component Analysis (PCA) dan Cluster Analysis (CA). Sebelum analisis dilakukan, data diuji menggunakan Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO), Bartlett’s Test, dan Measure of Sampling Adequacy (MSA) untuk memastikan kelayakan data. Seluruh analisis dilakukan menggunakan perangkat lunak R (RStudio 4.5.2). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sistem pertanian padi di Desa Kemiri terbagi menjadi tiga tipe, yaitu MH (Medium size High yield), SH (Small size High yield), dan MM (Medium size Medium yield). Tipe MH memiliki produktivitas dan nilai R/C rasio tertinggi serta efisiensi terbaik pada penggunaan pupuk N, P, K, dan tenaga kerja. Tipe SH memiliki produktivitas relatif tinggi tetapi efisiensi input lebih rendah, sedangkan tipe MM menunjukkan produktivitas dan efisiensi pada kategori menengah.

The ”surjan” intercropping system, a traditional raised-bed farming practice in which rice is cultivated in furrows and, at the same time, vegetables and legumes are grown on elevated beds, has the potential to sustain food production on rainfed lowlands during the dry season. A factorial randomized block design experiment was conducted to investigate the interaction effects of manure at 0 t ha-1 (M0), 15 t ha-1 (M15), 25 t ha-1 (M25) and a liquid biofertilizer containing Trichoderma spp. and Beauveria bassiana at 0 L ha-1 (L0), 3 L ha-1 (L3), 6 L ha-1 (L6) on soil chemical properties, vegetative growth, and yield of five raised-bed commodities. The treatment interaction significantly improved soil organic carbon (+116.7%) and total nitrogen (+50.0%) relative to initial conditions, while cation exchange capacity declined (-16.3% to -42.6%). Yield responses were commodity-specific: Cucumis sativus L. achieved the highest yield (23.1 t ha-1) at M25×L6 treatment, whereas Vigna unguiculata L. exhibited the greatest proportional responsiveness (+133.3%) at M25×L6 treatment with strong correlations to organic carbon (r = 0.820) and cation exchange capacity (r = 0.690). Butternut squash responded best at moderate doses (M15×L3 treatment), while Capsicum frutescens L. showed the lowest response to the treatments. The M25×L6 treatment combination yielded the smallest decline in cation exchange capacity (-20.7%) but the greatest accumulation of organic carbon. The optimal amendment formulation is commodity-specific and requires a precision approach for the “surjan” system in rainfed lowlands.

This study contributes to understanding ecological changes in land use following slash-and-burn land clearing. This study aimed to compare the richness and density of plant species and soil fertility in farmland cultivated for one year (1 Y), three years (3 Y), and five years (5 Y) after slash-and-burn, with the conditions in the secondary forest (SF) in Berau Regency of East Kalimantan. Understory plant taxon types, numbers, and soil organic matter were measured in each region using a series of nested plots. The size of each observation plot was 20 x 100 m. Data on understory vegetation composition was collected using 1 x 1 m mini plots at 20 sampling points and divided into five blocks, with a 10 m spacing between sampling points on each property. Understory vegetation species and cover percentage, litter cover percentage, open soil percentage, and soil fertility were measured for each observation plot. The results showed that the land cover percentage increased each year during the 5 years transition from secondary forest to farmland. Furthermore, within the 5 years, there was a change in understory species, particularly the presence of grasses and sedges at 3 and 5 years after the land use change. However, the transition from secondary forest to farmland within 5 years did not alter soil organic matter and total nitrogen.

The increasing population in Indonesia is challenging rice production to feed more people while rice fields are being converted to other land-use land cover (LULC). This study analyzes land use in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2025 using an artificial neural network cellular automata (ANN-CA) and rice data from Statistics Indonesia to predict future rice status in Malang Districts, Indonesia. The primary LULC change driver was the rapid conversion of rice fields, which had their area reduced by 18% from 2019 to 2021 and 2% from 2021 to 2025. Rice fields are mainly being converted to settlements and buildings. The Kappa coefficient of simulation achieved 88%, with 91 accuracies. The model predicted a 2% lower rate of rice production but a 3% higher demand in 2025 compared to 2021. Lower rice production and higher demand are predicted to reduce the rice surplus by 57% in 2025, suggesting that the Malang district might lower its supply of rice to other areas by 2025. Our study provides a food crisis early warning system that decision makers can use to form adequate strategic plans and solutions to combat food insecurity.

Small-scale farmers in South-East Asia face serious challenges in agricultural productivity, food security and environmental degradation. Complex Rice Systems (CRS) entail an integrated farming approach that combines new technologies with traditional practices and knowledge to sustainably increase agricultural productivity. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of CRS by adding rice, fish, ducks and border crops to rice fields in Lima Puluh Kota (West Sumatra, Indonesia) to improve rice productivity and dietary nutrient supply. The treatments were: conventional rice (CON), organic rice (ORR), organic rice with border crops (ORB), organic rice with fish (ORF), organic rice with ducks (ORD), and organic rice with ducks, fish, and border crops (CRS). The experiment resulted in improvements in growth, development and yield of rice in CRS and ORD compared to other treatments. Despite elevated costs, treatments with ducks also resulted in a higher gross margin than the other treatments. CRS produced the most diverse nutritional composition, and higher nutritional value compared to ORD. It was concluded that CRS can contribute to higher rice yields, improved farm income and more diversified diets, and thus providing a comprehensive approach to improve livelihoods and food security of small-scale farmers.

Purpose: Complex rice systems (CRSs) are polycultures of plants and animals that enhance ecological processes contributing to sustainable and profitable farming systems. However, the contextual management complexity can hamper adoption, despite the large long-term benefits that CRSs offer. This paper aimed to provide a method that encourages active farmer involvement and integrates farmer’s feedback to deliver timely adaptations to CRS management. Design/methodology/approach: FFSs that are commonly used in guiding rural development processes involve a long process of preparation, weekly meetings and dissemination of new technologies with a greater knowledge flows from researchers or institutions to farmers than contrariwise. We have simplified FFS components and modified its curriculum focusing on extracting and integrating farmers’ feedback into adaptation measures. Surveys were conducted and their results were validated through focus group discussions, which provided an adequate database to simplify the steps in the FFS approach. Findings: Only four meetings for agroecosystems analysis that emphasised an analytical and reflective learning cycle generated suitable adaptation measures selected from farmers’ feedback. Repetition of the shortened FFS over several rice cropping cycles proved more effective than the frequent meetings within one cropping cycle. Practical implications: The modified FFS could be considered as a promising approach to training farmers, whilst simultaneously identifying and discovering adaptations of agricultural innovations and monitoring the evolution of complex polycultures like CRSs, under diverse conditions. Theoretical implications: The modified FFS provides participants additional time to reflect on the training topics, resulting in a significant improvement in their knowledge and the performance of the CRS. Originality/value: The modified FFS approach is focused on reflexive learning cycles and adaptation of innovations. Therefore, it is highly suitable for management of complex polycultures such as CRSs.

Extreme weather events and pest outbreaks decrease rice yields and increase their variability, presenting challenges for the agricultural agenda to increase rice productivity and yield stability in Asia. The integration of azolla, fish and ducks has been shown to create robust systems that maintain high yields under heavy rainfall, but no clear evidence exists that rice yields in these systems are stable across locations and throughout time under divergent weather conditions. We show that the introduction of additional elements into the rice cropping system enhanced the adaptive capacity to extreme weather events across four locations and three cropping cycles. The complex system showed both static and dynamic stability, and had the highest reliability index, thereby outperforming the conventional and organic monoculture systems. The complex rice system design provides a promising example for resilience towards the impacts of climate change on rice production and for safeguarding food security in Asia and beyond.