Electronic Theses and Dissertation

WATER RESOURCES AND FOOD CROP PRODUCTIVITY
IN NORTHERN SUMATRA

ABSTRACT Title : Water Resources and Food Crop Productivity in Northern Sumatra Penulis : Mailya Fahira Putri NIM : 2101101010054 Faculty/Department : Economics and Business/Development Economics Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Aliasuddin S.E., M.Si and Nur Aidar S.E., M.S.E Konsentration : Natural Resources and Environmental Economics The study aims to empirically analyze and measure the impact of irrigation, capital, and labor on rice productivity. This study uses secondary panel data from four provinces in Northern Sumatra (Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Riau) for the period 2015-2024. The analytical methods used include the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) panel model. The results of the study show that, in the long run, the area under irrigation has a positive and significant effect on rice productivity. Conversely, the capital variable has a significant negative effect, while labor has no significant effect. In the short term, neither irrigation, capital, nor labor had a significant effect on rice productivity. These findings indicate that expanding irrigation infrastructure is key to boosting long-term crop yields. Meanwhile, regional investments are deemed to have not yet focused on the food sector, and the addition of informal workers is ineffective due to limited skills.Therefore, the government is advised to modernize secondary and tertiary irrigation channels, direct targeted capital restructuring toward the food subsector, and promote digitalbased training and mechanization. Therefore the government is advised to modernize secondary and tertiary irrigation channels, direct targeted capital restructuring toward the food subsector, and promote digital-based training and mechanization for farmers. Keywords: Rice Productivity, Irrigated Area, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), Informal Labor, ARDL Panel.