DYNAMICS OF PORANG COMMODITY DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF PRODUCER AND CONSUMER
Authors: Aldillah Rizma , Harianto Harianto , Suprehatin Suprehatin , Bakti I Gede Mahatma Yudha 
Published: September 2024

<p>Background. Porang tubers have the potential to have high economic value, because they <br />contain glucomannan which is good for health and can be easily processed into food<br />ingredients to meet daily needs (Sholiha et al, 2020). For example, the production of porang<br />in East Java in 2009 only reached 600-1000 tons of dry chips while the industry needed around<br />3,400 tons of dry chips (Wijanarko 2012 &amp; Maharani 2022). This need cannot be met because<br />in Indonesia porang has not been cultivated intensively and is still very dependent on natural<br />potential, the planting area is still limited and there are no complete cultivation guidelines<br />(Hidayat, 2021). In addition, it is also because not many people know about it, the age of the<br />plant is relatively longer than other types of tubers and crops (Sumarwoto, 2004). However, in<br />Indonesia, the dominant porang-derived products are rice, shirataki noodles and flour (Suroso,<br />2016). However, there are still many farmers who are hesitant to plant porang in large<br />quantities (Kurniati et al, 2021). This is because farmers do not know the real economic<br />benefits of porang cultivation in their farming business (Iqbal et al, 2020). Especially when the<br />Covid-19 pandemic hit plus experiencing unfavorable weather, many local community garden<br />products that should have been harvested became crop failures (Fadhil et al, 2021).<br />Meanwhile, the dynamics in the consumer aspect lies in the problem of promoting Porang<br />derivative products which have not been intensively carried out by the Porang industry<br />(Andika, 2022). In addition, porang-derived products still have little variation compared to<br />other tuber-derived products, such as cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, etc. (Mahirdini &amp; Afifah,<br />2016). As said by David (2011) that in business it is not only concerned with the producer<br />aspect, but it is necessary to pay attention to the consumer aspect, so that production results<br />have a definite market, so that the strategy made in developing a product is complete.</p><p>Objectives. Beginning with analyzing how the level of profit from farming at the level of porang<br />farmers. Many studies related to porang state that the profits of porang farmers are far greater<br />than the profits from other tuber commodities, as stated by Hamdan (2020) that porang<br />production can reach 6-10 tons per hectare with tuber prices in the range of 10-13 thousand<br />per kg and bulbil prices can reach 200-300 thousand per kg, with production costs ranging<br />from 80-90 million per hectare. However, the porang product itself has not been widely circulated at the consumer level, in line with the results of research by Subagiana et al (2022)</p><p>and Supriyadi (2021) that porang-derived products are still relatively rare at the end-consumer<br />level. For this reason, it is necessary to study the dynamics of porang farming at the farmer<br />level. From a consumer perspective, it is necessary to examine consumer preferences for<br />derivative products produced from the porang plant itself, which then determines the strategy<br />for developing porang commodities.<br />Methods. Quantitative descriptive analysis in this study is an analysis of porang farming<br />conducted in Ponorogo Regency, East Java Province, and Sinjai Regency, North Sumatra<br />Province in 2021. Porang farmers are determined by snowballing at least 5 farmers with<br />criteria when conducting the study, farmers are still doing porang farming . While the analysis<br />of consumer preferences was carried out through online interviews with a questionnaire guide<br />on respondents with the criteria of women and men who are already working, age range above<br />25 years and income above the Regional Minimum Wage (UMR) in their respective regions or<br />in rupiah above Rp. 2.5 million per month, as many as 64 respondents. Then, several<br />alternative strategies were determined in developing the porang commodity. The internal and<br />external factors of the development of the porang commodity were obtained from key<br />respondents consisting of: porang farmers, the porang industry, namely Small and Medium<br />Enterprises (SMEs) at the household industry level, and consumers of porang derivative<br />products who regularly buy porang rice.<br />Results. The results show that porang farming can provide profits of up to 3-5 times the cost<br />of production, with a range of up to IDR 100-200 million per hectare. This makes people<br />increasingly have the opportunity for high market demand at the community level. From the<br />results of consumer preferences, when choosing rice, people have taken into account the health<br />content in it, both in terms of color, taste, uniformity, cleanliness, aroma/fragrance,<br />brand/bran, packaging, storability to price.<br />Conclusion. So, from both perspectives it is concluded that in developing the porang<br />commodity strategy a partnership between farmers and the private sector and the government<br />is needed by utilizing available resources, besides that, socialization and promotion need to be<br />carried out more intensely among the general public, because porang products have added<br />health value and are friendly environment, the opportunity to sell in the market is greater.</p>