Profit variability of vegetable farming in the upper Citarum watershed, West Java, Indonesia

Vegetable farming contributes major income to farm households in the upper Citarum watershed. The participation rate of farmers in vegetable farming reached 55%, indicating that this region’s farming is very intensive. However, the land holding of the vegetable farm is very diverse among farmers. The vegetable is also planted on a steep slope and is vulnerable to soil erosion. This condition implies low technological efficiency and high risk on production and profit. In addition, vegetable farming is indicated as the cause of soil erosion and sediment increase in the Citarum River. The study aims to analyze the vegetable farming pattern and profit variability in the upper Citarum watershed. The survey was conducted in the Citarum watershed Bandung and West Bandung District. The samples were farmers in the two districts who performed on-farm agriculture activities and randomly selected 499 farm households. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics from 613 vegetable plots with 276 farm households out of 499 sample farm households. The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) was employed to analyze vegetable farming profit distribution. The results show that vegetable farming has a high risk. Farmers can lose significant money but also offer a high expected profit. Vegetable farming in Bandung District has a higher expected profit than in West Bandung. According to dominant commodities planted, the profit variability of tomato and chili is higher than cabbage and potato. Chili has the highest risks; over 30% of farmers had negative profits. To stabilize farmers’ incomes, improving farming technology and planting patterns suitable for vegetable farming on the upper and steep slopes and increasing access to market outlets and agricultural infrastructure in the upper Citarum watershed is necessary.


Introduction
Agriculture lands in the upper watershed (DAS) generally consist of dry land.Dryland itself is a prospective resource to support food security.Nation-wide, the dryland area in Indonesia covers 144.47 million [1].From this area, about 63.4% is potential for agriculture.Dryland agriculture potentials can be divided into four main commodity groups: food crops, upland vegetable crops, perennial crops, plantation crops, fruits, timber crops, and livestock grazing [2].
Issues in using dryland for food crops in the upper watershed area mainly relate to land degradation, topography/land slope level, and water availability.These factors will affect land fertility and further 1230 (2023) 012193 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1230/1/012193 2 crop productivity.Land erosion is a serious problem, especially for upland drylands with steep topography [3][4][5].On steep land, the risks of erosion and landslides are major considerations and other risks.The topographical shape of agricultural lands determines the difficulty and risk of farming.The risk of farming on steep land (> 3%) will be greater than the risk on relatively flat land (<3%).About 77% of Indonesia's land area has a slope of more than 3% [6].
The Citarum watershed is one of the areas that are experiencing severe problems due to erosion.The upper Citarum watershed is one of Indonesia's most degraded due to unsustainable agricultural practices, the expansion of vegetable crops in steep and hilly areas, and the destruction of forest areas.The cause of degradation in the Citarum River is the high rate of runoff, erosion, and further loss of the topsoil for farming.In the long run, this will further impact the high risk of the farming system, farm production levels, and farmer incomes.Soil erosion due to growing vegetables in steep uplands causes negative effects [7].
Vegetable farming contributes significant income to farm households in the upper Citarum watershed.The participation rate of farmers in vegetable farming reached 55% [8], indicating that this region's farming is very intensive.According to Tiwari et al. [9], adopting vegetable farming in the upland area improved the farmers' socioeconomic condition regarding farm income, employment opportunities, and social status.These indicators revealed that vegetable cropping patterns are economically profitable and socially acceptable.
However, the contribution of vegetable farming to the rural economy has been made through intensive cultivation practices such as increased use of agrochemicals which brought declining soil fertility and threatened the sustainability of upland farming in the long run.A vegetable is also planted on a steep slope and is vulnerable to soil erosion.This condition implies a high risk of production and profit.
Based on this background, the research objectives of this paper are to analyze and describe the characteristics of farming in the upper Cirtarum watershed and analyze the variability of revenues and profits of vegetable farming in this upland area.The recommendations provided by this research can be utilized to enhance the regional Government's policies and programs in Bandung and West Bandung District.These policies and programs should focus on the advancement of vegetable farming in the highlands and mitigate the financial risks encountered by vegetable farmers

Data, location, and time of research
The household survey was conducted in the upper Citarum watershed in September 2019.This research is part of a research project entitled "Policy Research to Support Natural Resource Management in Indonesia's Upland Landscape" (Indogreen) conducted by the Indonesian Center for Agriculture Socioeconomic and Policy Studies (ICASEPS) in collaboration with the University of Adelaide.
The survey location was in the upper Citarum watershed, which was selected based on agricultural activity intensity, altitude, and steepness criteria.The location was in two administrative districts: Bandung and West Bandung Districts.Bandung District includes nine sub-district (Arjasari, Cicalengka, Cikancung, Ciwidey, Ibun, Kertasari, Pacet, Pangalengan, Soreang), while West Bandung District has five sub-district (Cililin, Cipongkor, Cisarua, Gunung Halu, Sindang Kerta).Most of the villages in Bandung District area are located in the upward landscape with an altitude of more than 1000m above sea level, while villages in West Bandung District that mostly just above or less than 1000m.
The villages were selected based on certain criteria.This includes agriculture intensity, altitude, topography/slope, and others.Villages that are categorized as urban villages are excluded from the list.Only high-land rural villages with slopes >15% and the villages still rely on agriculture are taken as selected villages.
Sample households were farmers who cultivate the land, whether they own or manage land owned by other farmers by renting, sharing, or other land transactions.Non-farmer households (agricultural and non-agricultural laborers) were not taken as sample households.For this purpose, a sampling frame of household samples from farmers per village was first drawn up.Within the two districts, 22 villages were selected.A random selection of sample farmer household samples per village is 22-23.This way, a total of 499 household samples were obtained.

Data analysis
Data analysis was performed statistically by calculating the average (mean), the maximum number (max), the minimum number (min), and the middle value (median).
The profitability of the farming business was calculated with the following formula: The Cumulative distribution function was used to analyze the profit distribution of vegetable farming.Cumulative distribution function (CDF) describes the cumulative probability of function that X will take a value less than or equal to x.The CDF is defined as a discrete random variable and is given as Fx(x) = P(X ≤ x)………………………………………………………………………...( 5) where X is the probability that takes a value less than or equal to x and lies in the semi-closed interval (a,b], where a < b.

Landholding
Agricultural lands managed by sample households (HH) come from their owned land and land owned by other farmers.The average area of land tenure for the sample household is 0.65 hectares.The maximum area is 7.4 hectares, with a minimum of 0.01 hectares.The average area is relatively smaller compared to the national average area of agricultural land per farmer of 0.78 hectares.Still, it is larger than the average tenure of agricultural land (rice fields and dry land) per farmer in West Java Province of 0.38 hectares [10].The average land area per household in Bandung District is larger than in West Bandung District.The average number of plots per sample household is more than two plots, with an average area per plot of 0.25 hectares (table 1).2).With more than one plot of land and the average land area per household is 0.65 hectares, the average land area per plot is small.The greater number of plots with a narrow land area implies a low farming efficiency because the plot area is far from the optimal business scale.In aggregate, the distribution of land area according to land type shows that dry land is the most dominant (43%), followed by estates (table 3).However, in West Bandung District, estates are more dominant than dryland.Estates crops (especially coffee) are more common in West Bandung District.The percentage of forest land is relatively small.However, part of the farmers' estates is inside forestry land that farmers cultivate through the Collaborative Community Forest Resource Management (PHBM) program.The land is generally planted with estates crops (predominantly coffee) or other timber crops.4).With such a steep slope, human and agricultural activity that does not consider environmental aspects will impact landslides and result in poor soil nutrients [11].According to [4,[12][13][14], control methods for erosion for steep slopes include covering the soil as much as possible, minimum tillage, including trees (agroforestry), and using cover crops.Mulching also increases surface roughness and thus reduces runoff velocity, allowing increased water infiltration [15].However, unfortunately, not many farmers are aware of the need to carry out conservation practices on these steep lands [16], as well as vegetable farmers in the upper Citarum watershed [17].The dominant types of crops grown by farmers are vegetables (table 5).The following information describes vegetable farming by the sample farmer.Table 5 shows that from the number of sample farmers (499 farmer households), around 55% of farmers grow vegetables.The number of farmers who do not grow vegetables is 44.7%.Farmers' participation level in growing vegetables in Bandung District is greater than in West Bandung District.
Most households (HH) grow vegetables and other staple crops (grains, legumes, and tubers).Only a small proportion of them (about 8%) work in vegetable farming.The mixed vegetable and other food crop farming business is not only a strategy to reduce risk but also to meet the main food needs of the household.Farm households that do not grow vegetables are large, reaching 44.69% in aggregate.Farmers' dominant types of non-vegetables are stapled crops (rice and corn and a small portion of cassava and beans grains) and perennial crops (estate crops, fruit, and other timbers).The local government program to reduce land degradation converts vegetable crops into perennial crops.Furthermore, mixed vegetables and perennial crops are also alternative sources of income.
Vegetables are grown in three seasons in a year.However, the number of observations of plots planted with vegetables in the second and third seasons is less than in the main season (rainy season).The five dominant vegetables grown by farmers are chilies, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, and green onions.Table 6 shows productivity per hectare in the main session for chilies was 4.86 tons, cabbage was 15.49 tons, potatoes were 13.92 tons, and tomatoes were 26.83 tons.The productivity of chilies is still lower than the national average of around 7.67 tons.Likewise, the productivity of potatoes (15.88 tons), and cabbage (20.2 tons) [10], while tomato is above the national average productivity (22.4 tons).According to Sutrisna and Oktorie [18], vegetable productivity in the upper land with a steep slope and prone to erosion could be increased by implementing conservation vegetables farming system.This system requires a lot of manure that can be conducted by integrating a vegetable farming system with dairy cattle.The financial analysis of farming for four vegetable crops is presented in table 7. Of the four commodities, total expenditure, revenue from sales of primary commodities, and total plot revenue, ranked from the highest to smallest, are tomatoes, potatoes, chilies, and cabbage.However, for profit, the potato produced the smallest profit, and the largest was in tomato farming.Although the income is high, the potato farming cost is also high due to the high cost of seeds.Generally, the revenue from the vegetable farm is relatively higher than the cereal farm's, but the costs are also high.Based on the R/C ratio, the financial feasibility analysis shows that chili, potato, cabbage, and tomato are feasible to develop (R/C ratio> 1).The R/C ratio values were 1.89 for cabbage, 1.86 for chilies, 1.29 for potatoes, and 1.83 for tomatoes.This result aligns with the feasibility analysis of potato farming in the Citarum watershed [17].Mariyono [19] found that vegetable farming makes a profit, and there is an opportunity to expand vegetable-based agribusiness.The profitability analysis by Aliyi et al. [20] showed that potato, tomato, and cabbage production in the study area of Ethiopia was profitable.The cost of the vegetable farm is relatively high.The distribution of farm expenses according to the cost components of the main vegetable farms (cabbage, chili, potato, and tomato) within the main plot is presented in Table 8.The cost pattern for cabbage, chilies, and tomatoes is almost the same, with pesticides being the largest, followed by organic and chemical fertilizers.For chilies, the share of the cost of chemical fertilizers is slightly larger than that of organic fertilizers.This pattern differs for potatoes, with the most significant cost-share for seeds, reaching 36%.This cost is higher than the other three primary commodities (table 8).
The high share of potato seed costs is due to the high price of potato seeds, around IDR 184 thousand per kg.The type of potato that is grown is generally the Granola type.The high cost of potato seeds implies a high total cost of farming.However, despite the high cost, the participation rate of the land plots planted with potatoes remains high due to the relatively stable price.In addition, potatoes can be stored relatively longer than other commodities, thereby reducing marketing risks.

Profit Variability of Vegetable Farming
The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) was applied for profit distribution analysis to determine the variability of profits in vegetable farming plots.Vegetable farming has a high risk.Of the 365 plot observations, about 30% of the farming plots have a negative profit probability.Farmers can lose money up to M IDR 40 in Bandung and West Bandung District but also have a chance to reach a profit per hectare up to M IDR 150 in Bandung District.Vegetable farming in Bandung District has a higher expected profit than West Bandung (figure 1).

Figure 1. Profit distribution of vegetable farming in Bandung and West Bandung District
For each main commodity (tomatoes, chilies, cabbage, and potatoes), the profit distribution analysis was not differentiated by district (Bandung and West Bandung) since the farming systems of each main commodity in the two districts are not much different.The merging of the two districts is also intended to make more samples to be analyzed to obtain a better graph (figure 2).
The profit variability of tomato and chili is higher than cabbage and potato.Chili has the highest risks.More than 20%t of the farmers had negative profits, while for tomatoes, the probability for farmers to get a negative profit is less than 20%.However, the variability of profits in tomato farming is greater than in chilies, as indicated by the left and right tail profit distribution, which are longer than in chilies.Tomato farming has the opportunity to earn a greater profit than chilies but also has a greater probability of losing a greater profit.Compared to cabbage and potato, the variability of profits for tomato and chili is higher, as indicated by the longer left and right tail profit distribution.Potato plots farming has a negative profit of less than 20%, while cabbage plots have a negative profit of up to 20%.

Conclusion
The productivity of primary vegetable commodities, namely chilies, cabbages, and potatoes, is lower than the average national productivity.Vegetable farming also has a high risk.Farmers can lose significant amounts of money but also show a high expected profit.Vegetable farming in Bandung District has a higher expected profit than in West Bandung.According to dominant commodities planted, the profit variability of tomato and chili is higher than cabbage and potato.Chili has the highest risks; over 30% of farmers had negative profits.However, from the R/C ratio, vegetable farming in the upper Citarum watershed is still profitable and feasible to be developed.
To stabilize farmers' incomes, the Government needs to improve farming technology and planting patterns suitable for vegetable farming on upper land and steep slopes, as well as counselling/socialization on the types of commodity farming that have less impact on increasing land erosion.Increasing access to market outlets and agricultural infrastructure in the upper Citarum watershed is also necessary.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Profit distribution of four dominant commodities farming

Table 1 .
Land ownership of sampled households households have only one plot.Most (35%) have two plots; the third dominance was three plots.The maximum number of plots managed is 11, but only by one farmer (table

Table 2 .
Number plots managed by households

Table 3 .
Land type of sample households

Table 5 .
Farmer participation in vegetable cultivation

Table 6 .
The average productivity of the four dominant vegetables in the study site by the season

Table 7 .
Total costs, revenues, and profits of main vegetable farms of the main plot

Table 8 .
Share of input costs for the main vegetable farm