Year

1993

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Department of Economics

Abstract

The agricultural sector remains an important part of the Indonesian economy and still employs more than half of the labour force. Agriculture is expected to continue to absorb part of the growing labour force and to help alleviate rural poverty. Few micro-level analyses have been undertaken in Indonesia in order to understand households' responses to changes in government policies, household characteristics and fixed inputs. Most of these studies of rural households' behaviour in Indonesia have analysed the consumption, production and labour supply aspects separately, ignoring the complex interrelations among farm production, farm profit, household consumption and family labour supply. In this study, data from two hundred and forty-one households in six villages of West Java were analysed. The data covered all productive activities, labour allocation among family members, household income and consumption during the one year period of 1983. The complex nature of rural household's production and consumption decisions is approached, in this study, by applying a farm household model. Previous farm household models mostly concentrated on one crop, assumed a single wage level for males and females, and ignored the role of non-agricultural activities in generating income and employment. The model developed in this study overcomes some of the limitations of previous farm household models, applied mostly to the Asian and Pacific countries. The model developed in this study permits evaluation of interdependency between crops, between factors of productions, the linkages between food crop production and non-agricultural activities, the roles of male and female labour in household work and income generation, and the importance of non-agricultural activities in influencing household consumption and family labour supply.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.