Institutional Activeness or Location? Fertilizer Access Patterns and Farmers’ Group Agricultural Machinery in Mamasa Regency

Abstract

: Subsidized fertilizer and agricultural machinery in Indonesia are allocated through farmer groups, so policy implicitly assumes that institutionally active groups obtain better access to inputs. This study examined whether the institutional activeness of rice farmer groups is associated with access to fertilizer and to machinery, and how far access varies between sub-districts. A quantitative cross-sectional design was used with primary data from a structured survey of 195 rice farmer groups in all 17 sub-districts of Mamasa Regency, West Sulawesi, collected with a instrument in which group chairpersons acted as key informants. Data were analysed with Wilson confidence intervals, Monte Carlo chi-square tests, variance decomposition, linear probability models with heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors and sub-district fixed effects, randomization inference and ordered logit models. Easy access to fertilizer was reported by 73.4% of groups and any access to machinery by 31.3%, but access varied sharply between sub-districts, which accounted for 33.1% and 22.2% of the variation. Institutional activeness was not associated with better access: after sub-district was controlled for, routine group meetings and routine extension contact remained negatively associated with machinery access, while fertilizer access was unrelated to institutional activeness and was instead related to the age and education of the group chairperson. Groups with machinery access reported productivity 0.87 t ha⁻¹ higher. Input access is therefore structured by location rather than by group activeness, so allocation policy needs explicit spatial equity criteria alongside institutional strengthening.