The Study on the Performance of Beef Cattle Farmer Groups as an Economic Institution in Indonesia: Based on The Communication Networks

Analysis of the relationship between personal characteristics and communication networks is needed to assess beef cattle farmer groups' performance. One of the problems in developing beef cattle farming in Indonesia is that it has not become a farmer economic institution. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between beef cattle farmers' characteristics and the communication network. The research location was a group of beef cattle farmers who were members of the Cinagarabogo Centre of smallholder livestock (SPR) in Subang Regency, West Java Province. The research took place from May to December 2019. Quantitative research with research samples was Sari Mulya Mandiri and Bina Insani farmers group. Respondents were 30 beef cattle farmers. The data collected were processed by Sociometric Analysis, Analysis of Communication Network Structure, and Spearman Rank Correlation Test. The results showed that farmer characteristics were significantly related to the communication network for all information. The limitation of this study is only looking at performance-based on communication networks. Further research is needed to study the causality model of the farmer adoption rate determinants of the group capacity strengthening program.