Judul: Hubungan Peran Pemuda Tani Indonesia dalam Pemberdayaan Petani dengan Taraf Hidup Petani
Abstrak: Pemuda Tani Indonesia (PTI) merupakan organisasi pemuda yang bergerak di bidang pertanian. Salah satu program pemberdayaan PTI adalah program on-farm petani mandiri di Desa Tahalak Ujung Gading Kabupaten Tapanuli Selatan, Sumatera Utara. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan keragaan organisasi PTI, menganalisis peran PTI dalam pemberdayaan petani, dan menganalisis hubungan peran Pemuda Tani Indonesia dalam pemberdayaan petani dengan taraf hidup petani. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah tipe exploratory sequential mixed methods dengan pendekatan kualitatif yang diikuti pendekatan kuantitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan observasi, wawancara mendalam, FGD, dan studi literatur. Pemilihan responden dan informan dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknik purposive sampling. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, peran PTI dalam pemberdayaan petani mayoritas berada pada kategori sedang dan tinggi. Taraf hidup petani di Desa Tahalak Ujung Gading mayoritas berada pada kategori sedang. Adapun variabel peran PTI dalam pemberdayaan dengan taraf hidup petani memiliki hubungan yang moderat namun tidak signifikan, Pemuda Tani Indonesia (PTI) is a youth organization engaged in agriculture. One of PTI's empowerment programs is the on-farm program for independent farmers in Tahalak Ujung Gading Village, South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra. The purpose of this study was to describe the organizational performance of PTI, to analyze the role of PTI in empowering farmers, and to analyze the relationship between the role of Pemuda Tani Indonesia in empowering farmers and the standard of living of farmers. The research method used is exploratory sequential mixed methods with a qualitative approach followed by a quantitative approach. Data was collected by observation, in-depth interviews, FGDs, and literature studies. The selection of respondents and informants was done using purposive sampling technique. Based on the results of the study, the role of PTI in empowering farmers was mostly in the medium and high categories. The living standards of farmers in Tahalak Ujung Gading Village are mostly in the moderate category. The variable of PTI's role in empowerment with farmers' standard of living has a moderate relationship but not significant relationship.
Keyword: empowerment, farmer's standard of living, Pemuda Tani Indonesia, performance of PTI

Judul: Peran kepemimpinan kelompok tani dan efektivitas pemberdayaan petani
Abstrak: Ketidakberdayaan petani timbul akibat petani kurang mampu menggunakan sarana produksi secara maksimal. Ketidakberdayaan juga timbul akibat kurang mampunya petani dalam memasarkan hasil produksi pertanian. Melalui kelompok tani, pemerintah berpotensi dapat melakukan pemberdayaan dan proses pembelajaran untuk memperbaiki kualitas hidup mereka. Di dalam proses pemberdayaan kelompok tani dibutuhkan peran pemimpin untuk mendorong terjadinya aktivitas pemberdayaan. Pemimpin mempunyai peranan yang sangat penting untuk mempengaruhi dan memotivasi petani untuk mencapai tujuan bersama dalam kelompok tani. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis hubungan antara kepemimpinan dengan proses pemberdayaan kelompok tani dan hubungan antara proses pemberdayaan dengan tingkat keberdayaan, serta hubungan faktor personal dan faktor lingkungan dengan proses pemberdayaan petani. Metode yang digunakan adalah survei yang dilengkapi dengan pendekatan kualitatif dengan wawancara mendalam terhadap informan. Hasil penelitian diolah dengan menggunakan Rank Spearman dan Chi-square. Penelitian dilakukan pada kelompok tani Bina Sejahtera di Desa Situ Udik Kecamatan Cibungbulang Kabupaten Bogor dan pada kelompok tani Hurip di Desa Cikarawang Kecamatan Dramaga Kabupaten Bogor. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan hubungan nyata positif antara kepemimpinan dengan proses pemberdayaan, sedangkan proses pemberdayaan tidak menunjukkan hubungan yang nyata dengan tingkat keberdayaan. Sebagian faktor personal menunjukkan hubungan nyata yang positif dengan tingkat partisipasi antara lain usia dan tingkat pendidikan, sedangkan faktor lingkungan tidak menunjukkan hubungan nyata dengan proses pemberdayaan., The powerlessness of farmers is caused by the farmers are not able enough to use the equipment of production optimally. The powerlessness is also caused by the unqualified farmers in marketing their agricultural production. Through the farmer groups, the government has a potential to do the learning process and the empowerment to improve their quality of life. In this empowerment process of the farmers group, it needs the role of leader to push the activity of empowerment. The leader has a very important role to influence and motivate the farmers to achieve their goal together through the farmer groups. The aims of this research are to analysis the correlation between leadership with process of farmer groups empowerment, the correlation between the empowerment process with level of empowerment, and also the correlation between personal factor and environment factor with the empowerment process. The methods which is used in this research is survey which is supported by qualitative approach with in-depth interviews to the informants. The result of this research was processed by using Rank Spearman and Chi-Square. The research was conducted to the farmer groups Bina Sejahtera in Situ Udik Village, Cibungbulang Sub-District, Bogor and to the farmer groups Hurip in Cikarawang Village, Dramaga Sub-District, Bogor District. The result of the research shows a real positive correlation between the leadership with the empowerment process, while the empowerment process doesn’t show a real positive correlation with the level of empowerment. Some personal factors show a real positive correlation with the level of empowerment.
Keyword: kepemimpinan, pemberdayaan petani, kelompok tani

Judul: Characterizations of low alloy steel sae 4422  plated with chromic acid (Cro3)
Abstrak: Characterizations of low alloy steel SAE 4422 plated with chromic acid (CrOrO3) was use Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), RD),Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-Ray (EDAX), Hardness Test and Roughness Test. Microstructures analysis exhibits cracks and grain boundaries microcracks as a characteristics of chrome metal found at plating metal. Perlite and Ferrite as grains of steel found at base metal with grain boundaries around it. Phase analysis of plating metal appropriate to chrome metal with lattice constant (a) is 2.559 Å and phase analysis of base metal appropriate to iron ferrite with lattice constant (a) is 3.318 Å. Both plating and base metal have cubic system. Chemical analysis of plating metal at surface section exhibits that cracks area have highest value of carbon element compare with grains and grains boundaries area. While chemical analysis of base metal at cross section exhibits that perlite have highest value of carbon element compare with ferrite and grain boundaries. The hardness value of plating metal at surface section and cross section are 753 and 637 VHN. While, the hardness value of base metal and interface area at cross section are 205 and 373 VHN. The roughness value at measurement points of chrome surface for as received sample are 0.445 μm. Observation used Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy exhibits surface irregularities combine to form surface texture of plating metal at surface section.
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