Smallholders’ Tobacco in Sukowono Subdistrict, Jember Regency: An Economic Study, 1992-2012

SUMMARY

 

Smallholders’ Tobacco in Sukowono Subdistrict, Jember Regency: An Economic Study, 1992-2012, Dewi Ayu Lestari, 120110301024; 149 pages; 2016; History Department, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Jember.

 

This thesis discusses smallholders’ tobacco plantation in Sukowono Subdistrict, from 1992 to 2012, using economic perspective. There are three problems that will be discussed in this thesis, namely: (1) why did people in Sukowono Subdistrict planted tobacco?; (2) how was the development of smallholders’ tobacco in Sukowono Subdistrict in 1992-2012; (3) and, what were the impacts of smallholder’s tobacco on the economic and social life of Sukowono society? The focus of this thesis is to explain the background of smallholders’ tobacco, particularly the dynamic process of its development and its economic impact for society. The purposes of this research are to know what made people of Sukowono Subdistrict planting tobacco, to describe the development of smallholder tobacco in Sukowono district in 1992-2012, and to research the impact of smallholders’ tobacco to the economic and social life in Sukowono.

This research used a historical method with the stages including the topic selection, data sources collection, data sources criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The research used an economic sociology approach. The approach can be used to expose the problems of smallholders’ tobacco in Sukowono, especially related with the finance for planting, production process, crops marketing, labors, and farmers’ strategies in facing the changing market, so the the reconstruction of this thesis will be in accordance with the rules of economic history writing.

The result of this research shows that during 1992-2012 smallholders’ tobacco plant in Sukowono was one of plantation plants that became a significant important part of the people’s economy pillars. In Sukowono, many people knew how to cultivate tobacco from generation to generation in a family. Therefore, tobacco also has become a plant of tradition for Sukowono socitey. The existence of smallholders’ tobacco plantations in Sukowono has always experienced development, especially after the issuing of the Cultivation System Bill in 1992 which gave freedom for farmers to plant the commodity plants based on their own choice. This Bill became one of driving factors of the smallholders’ tobacco plantation development in Sukowono Subdistrict, so that gave the impact of the expansion of smallholders’ tobacco land. Logically, tobacco crops would not develop, if tobacco farming was less profitable than the other commodities, especially for the regions that have very important historical value of tobacco.

From 1992 to 2012, smallholders’ tobacco plantation in Sukowono subdistrict was able to create jobs that could provide positive impacts on the economy of society, especially the tobacco farmers. Smallholders’ tobacco cultivated by the farmers in Sukowono could give added value for their income because tobacco had high economic value. Nevertheless, tobacco crops could also provide negative impact when the harvest tobacco had lower selling prices, so their income would be lower too. Even, they would be threatened by loss because tobacco cultivation required a large money capital. In addition, the existence of smallholders’ tobacco plantation in Sukowono was basically able to provide employment opportunities for the community of farm labors. In positive sense, smallholders’ tobacco in Sukowono could become a source of income and a pillar of small-scaled economy. However, smallholers’ tobacco plants might also provide a negative impact, for example when the tobacco farmers were threatened getting crops failure, the labors operated by the farmers were only the relative-labors in order to minimize the cost. Thus, the economy of farming labors community would be also threatened.

 

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