FARMERS’ ATTITUDE AND RICE ADDED VALUE BASED ON AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION IN EAST JAVA OF INDONESIA

Food consumption as rice commodities in Indonesia continues to increase yet inversely proportional to the number of workers. Unbalanced conditions between the needs and the number of workers affect production, so agricultural mechanization is necessary for achieving food self-sufficiency, whose goal is to improve the efficiency of farming resources, reduce yield losses and improve the quality of farm products. Using agricultural mechanization to enhance rice quality and added value will be more in post-harvest activities. The government facilitates farming tools and machinery that includes combining harvester machines, dryers, and rice milling machines to secure production, improve quality, added value, and competitiveness in rice commodities. The purpose of this study is to: 1). Analyze why farmers use farming tools and machinery to improve rice quality and added value; 2). Analyze farmers' attitude in using farming tools and machinery to enhance rice and added value quality, 3). Analyzing farmers' behaviour towards agricultural implements and machinery to improve rice and added value, and 4). Analyze the added value of rice. We researched 30 respondents in Tuban Regency using purposive sampling and analyzed it with qualitative and quantitative descriptive methods. The research results on farmers who have used farming tools and machinery such as combined harvester machines, dryers, and rice milling in Tuban Regency are: 1) Farmers needed and accepted the use of combined-harvester and dryers in their farming activities; 2) Farmers have a positive attitude towards combined-harvester machines, dryers, and rice milling; 3) Using farming tools and machinery such as combined-harvester, dryers, and rice milling improve the quality of grain and final products in rice, affected behaviour changes on farmers to use mechanization in their farming activities, and 4) Grain processing into rice with a rice milling machine provides the added value of Rp.488.65/kg or 71%.