sustainability Article Financial Feasibility and Competitiveness Levels of Soybean Varieties in Rice-Based Cropping System of Indonesia Ruly Krisdiana, Nila Prasetiaswati, Imam Sutrisno, Fachrur Rozi, Arief Harsono and Made Jana Mejaya * Indonesian Legume and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI), Malang 65101, Indonesia; [email protected] (R.K.); [email protected] (N.P.); [email protected] (I.S.); [email protected] (F.R.); [email protected] (A.H.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This research was conducted to determine the financial feasibility of growing soybean varieties and their competitiveness in the rice-based cropping system of Indonesia. The research was conducted at two locations in 2020. The results showed that the use of improved varieties of soybean yielded 2.24 t/ha and 2.09 t/ha, which was higher than using local (non-improved) varieties. The use of improved varieties was financially feasible with Revenue Cost (R/C) ratios of 1.88–1.98 and Benefit Cost (B/C) ratios of 0.88–0.98. The competitiveness of soybeans in Mojokerto and Pasuruan was lower compared to maize and mungbean. Soybean could compete with competing crops if the productivity and price were higher than the current conditions. To be able to compete with maize, the soybean productivity should be 5.14–5.22 t/ha if the current soybean price per kg is IDR 7200 (about US $ 0.51). To compete with mungbean, the soybean productivity should reach 3.05 t/ha with Citation: Krisdiana, R.; the current price per kg of IDR 7200 (about US $ 0.51). When measured by the price level, to be able Prasetiaswati, N.; Sutrisno, I.; Rozi, F.; to compete with maize, the soybean selling price per kg should be IDR 14,428–IDR 14,893 (about Harsono, A.; Mejaya, M.J. Financial USD 1.06) with a productivity level of 2.24 t/ha. Feasibility and Competitiveness Levels of Soybean Varieties in Keywords: competitiveness level; cropping pattern; financial feasibility; soybean; Indonesia Rice-Based Cropping System of Indonesia. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8334. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/su13158334 1. Introduction Academic Editors: Alexandra Soybean is the main ingredient in tofu and tempeh, which is one of the favorite food Jacquelyn Burgess and Sean Clark ingredients of Indonesian people. The demand for soybean continues to increase. Currently, soybean production in Indonesia is only able to meet 30–40% of the national consumption Received: 14 June 2021 for 2.6 million tons per year [1]. The demand for soybean continues to increase as a result of Accepted: 20 July 2021 the increasing population and the increasing variety of processed products and industrial Published: 26 July 2021 raw materials. Tempeh and tofu dominate the use of soybeans as a source of protein for low-income families. The other uses of soybeans are for soy milk, soy sauce, bean sprouts, Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral tauco, flour, and other processed products. Tempeh is consumed by frying because it is with regard to jurisdictional claims in easy and tastes delicious. published maps and institutional affil- In 2014, the harvested area for soybeans was 615,685 ha and increased to 680,373 ha in iations. 2018. Similarly, total production increased from 954,997 tonnes in 2014 to 982,598 tonnes in 2018. However, the productivity decreased from 1.55 t/ha in 2014 to 1.44 t/ha in 2018 [2]. Increasing the production and productivity of soybean is becoming necessary to meet market demands. To increase the productivity of soybean, the adoption of recommended Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. technology by farmers is needed. One of the technology components is the adoption Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. of improved varieties resulting from a breeding program. Improved varieties have one This article is an open access article or more special advantages such as high yield potential, pest and disease resistance, distributed under the terms and tolerance to environmental stress, product quality, or other characteristics. The use of conditions of the Creative Commons improved varieties suitable for the local environment is one of the important requirements Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// for successful farming. High-yielding varieties are technology that farmers are interested creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ in and are easily adopted. Soybean production in Indonesia is carried out on optimal 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 8334. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158334 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 8334 2 of 12 land, namely rice fields and dry land or rainfed lands that are not constrained by chemical, physical, or environmental factors. Indonesia0s rice field area in 2015 reached 8,087,393 hectares [2]. Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture, this number consists of 4.78 million ha of irrigated rice fields and 3.4 million ha of non-irrigated rice fields. These lands have potential for soybean development. Soybean grown on optimal land is more productive and more efficient than dry land. This can be due to optimal soybean growth and does not require inputs (soil amendments) other than fertilization which can be carried out according to recommendations for optimal land. The East Java province is the largest soybean area in Indonesia. The average land area owned by each farmer for food crops, especially soybeans, is less than 0.50 ha. In general, the cropping patterns are rice-rice-soybean, rice-rice-maize, rice-maize-mungbean, and rice-maize-maize cropping patterns. During harvest time, the farmers sell the soybean grains to local markets or to the local buyers who collect the soybean grains from the farmers’ houses. Increasing soybean production in Indonesia to achieve self-sufficiency faces the prob- lem of insufficient harvest area and low crop productivity. For the expansion of the harvested area in Indonesia, there is an optimal area of land, including rice fields. In order for soybeans to develop in these lands, location-specific cultivation technologies that are productive, efficient, economically feasible, and highly competitive are needed. To increase the soybean harvested area, agricultural development is faced with an area of fertile (op- timal) land that is decreasing due to the conversion of its functions to other sectors by 1% per year [1]. Efforts to increase soybean production carried out by the government with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency face three main problems: the harvest area for soybeans is not large enough, productivity is still low, and the competitiveness of soybean commodities is still inferior to other food crops such as peanuts and maize. Therefore, one of the efforts that can be made to increase national soybean production in order to achieve self-sufficiency is to increase the productivity of soybeans, which currently has only reached 1.50 t/ha to around 3.0 t/ha. Soybean cultivation technology is needed in optimal land that can increase produc- tivity, is economically feasible, and has high competitiveness. Technology adoption is a dynamic process that changes over time. Therefore, the technology to be developed needs to be evaluated for its feasibility first at the farmer level. Financial feasibility analysis is an important aspect in assessing product development, because it can determine the feasibility of a business based on the usefulness and benefits it generates. New technology is not only technically feasible for agronomics, but it is also expected to have a direct impact on the acceleration of technology adoption, increase in crop production, and farmers0 income [3,4]. Adaptive and appropriate technology has four characteristics, namely being technically usable, economically beneficial, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly [5]. The characteristics of innovation will determine whether or not farmers adopt an innovation, namely from the nature of relative advantages, suitability, complexity, ease of trial, and if it can be distinguished from the older technology [6]. Improved varieties are one component of technological innovation that plays an important role in increasing production. Among the technological innovations in soybean cultivation, improved varieties are the most capa- ble technology component for increasing productivity per unit area. The use of improved varieties together with other components of cultivation technology will provide yield increase in order to support national soybean production as well as increase the welfare of farmers. The Indonesian Legume and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI) has developed several improved soybean varieties. The ILETRI is an institution that conducts research on various legumes and tuber crops. This institution is under the Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research and Development (ICFORD), Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD), Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia. ILETRI has released more than 25 improved varieties with average grain yields of 3 tonnes/ha. More than 3 tonnes of the Breeder Seeds class of these soybean Sustainability 2021, 13, 8334 3 of 12 varieties are distributed annually to seed growers throughout the country to produce the Extension Seeds class for farmers. In carrying out soybean farming, farmers usually use family labor and labor outside the family, depending on their activities. For land preparation activities (cleaning straw, drainage channels), planting, harvesting, and post-harvesting are usually carried out by workers outside the family. Meanwhile, the activities of fertilizing, spraying, and weeding are carried out by family workers. Therefore, the number of family members affects the activities of a farm. Family members who are involved in farming activities usually also have other jobs (besides agriculture) because the activities carried out in the agricultural sector only require a short amount of time. The objective of this study was to determine the financial feasibility of improved soybean varieties and their competitiveness against alternative crops in rice-based cropping systems of Indonesia. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1.