Types of Agriculture Land Tenancy System in Demak District, Demak Regency

Abstract

Agricultural tenancy system is a farmland management system commonly used by farmers. This system poses as a provider for rural community’s job opportunities and occupations. The purpose of this research is to identify types of tenancy system and the on-farm profiles in Demak District, Demak Regency. The connection between farmlands and these profiles may become a ground for mutual arrangement with the government in order to protect the existence of farmlands. The result of survey to 238 respondents in the district identified there are at least four types of tenancy system that exist in Demak District society, namely: (1) basic tenancy system, (2) partial tenancy system, (3) farm bussiness tenancy system, and (4) managerial tenancy system.  Furthermore, based on age characteristics and farming experience data, it is identified that there are possibilities of scarcity in farming profiles of the next generation, which may threat the existence of farmlands. Author argued that the scarcity may be due to job diversification in rural areas. This research suggests a new approach to implement the agricultural land protection policy by modifying one of the existing agricultural land tenancy systems into a contract based system with the government. The contract is aimed to formalize and bind on-farm profiles with their farmland, as well as to limit the number of them. Thus, other productive labor force may be shifted to another field for regional economic development.