Socio-Economic and Income Characteristics of Pine Sap Tappers (Pinus merkusii) in the Covid-19 Situation

Through this research, we tried to examine the social and economic characteristics of harvesting non-timber forest products during the pandemic. On the other hand, this research tries to describe the socio-economic haracteristics of Pinus merkusii sap tappers and the effects on their income in Cenrana Baru Village, Cenrana District, Maros Regency. Data collection process was carried out directly using interview techniques to 30 respondents who were selected by purposive sampling. Data from the interviews then processed and analyzed using descriptive analysis methods and quantitative analysis. The results of the research that have been conducted show that the socio-economic characteristics of tappers based on the results of the study are the average age of tappers is around 41-48 years which is included in the productive age, the level of education is still low with a percentage of 50% are elementary school graduates, the amount of the average family dependents included in the category of small family with the number of dependents 1-2 people, the main livelihood is as farmers, the tappers have an average 1-2 ha of tapping area, the number of tapped pine trees is at intervals of 20-32 trees with a percentage of 27%, the average age of pine is 40 years, the production of sap produced by tappers are average 176-367 kg per month with a percentage of 53% and the average income of tappers is IDR 2.523.661,27 per month where the income of tappers is still below minimum wage (City or Regency Minimum Wage / UMK) of Maros Regency 2019 that is IDR 3.100.000,00. The socio-economic characteristics are thought to have an effect on tappers' income are age, family dependence, type of work, land ownership, working hours, number of trees, age of pine and sap production. Pine sap production has a significant positive effect at the 99% confidence level and land area has a significant effect on total household income at the 95% confidence level.