Socio-economic characteristics of farmers on the existence of floating-rice cultivation demonstration plots in flood prone area in Bojonegoro, East Java

Some parts of Bojonegoro Regency along the Bengawan Solo River experience flooding every year due to its downstream area. This leads to a drowning in the rice field areas for several months in the rainy season. As the consequence, the rice fields cannot function well in the agricultural cultivation process. One of the ways to adapt to this condition is cultivating floating rice. However, the further research on the social economic characteristics of the farmers in their accordance to the technological advancement needs to be conducted. This article aims to study the social economic characteristics of the farmers on the existence of the demonstration plots of floating rice cultivation. The method used in this research includes the demonstration plots and farmers survey. The surveyed respondents were 200 farmers living 3 km away from the demonstration plots. The findings show that the characteristics in which respondent farmers are dominated by unproductive ages, low education, low income, limited land tenure, and the lack of information shall be the obstacles in developing floating rice cultivation. This is due to the relatively high operational cost for making floating medium and caring plants different from others. The farmers' mindset tendency to give up to the natural condition is difficult to change when adapting to flood conditions.