Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences Volume 15 9 2021 Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences vol. 15, 2021, p. 9-17 https://doi.org/10.5219/1473 Received: 28 September 2020. Accepted: 16 November 2020. Available online: 28 January 2021 at www.potravinarstvo.com © 2021 Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences, License: CC BY 4.0 ISSN 1337-0960 (online) THE SUSTAINABILITY OF RICE FARMING PRACTICES IN TIDAL SWAMPLANDS OF SOUTH SUMATRA INDONESIA Khairul Fahmi Purba, Muhammad Yazid, Mery Hasmeda, Dessy Adriani, Meitry Firdha Tafarini ABSTRACT Tidal swamplands are considered the national food security platform in Indonesia. Residues from the excessive chemical input used in the rice production affecting the environment, farmers’ health, and the safety of the product. Similarly, one can expect that excessive chemical use in tidal swamplands can also threaten rice production system sustainability. This study aimed to assess and identify factors influencing the sustainability of rice farming practices in tidal swamplands of South Sumatra, Indonesia. A survey was carried out to obtain information through direct interviews with 150 farmers in Muara Telang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. The Indonesia rice check was employed as indicators to assess the sustainability of rice farming practices in tidal swamplands. A percentage index was to categorize the sustainability status. A regression analysis with the Tobit model was applied to identify factors influencing the sustainability of rice farming practices. The result showed that the average sustainability index was 25.53%. It indicated rice farming practices in tidal swamplands tend to be unsustainable. The significant factors influencing the sustainability of rice farming practices were farmer’s education and household size. A policy recommendation is proposed to enhance the implementation of sustainable agriculture practices by the rice farmers in tidal swamplands. Keywords: index; rice check; rice farm; sustainable agriculture; tidal swampland INTRODUCTION Suboptimal lands have an essential role in the food security of Indonesia. One of the suboptimal land types in Indonesia is tidal swamplands. Tidal swamplands are located close to the sea or river such that water availability in tidal swamplands for rice cultivation depends on the tides. The difference between irrigated rice fields and tidal swamplands is water management. There are some primary, secondary, and tertiary canals to the rice field that has sufficient water availability (Widjaja-Adi, Ratmini, and Swastika, 1997). Tidal swamplands are available in some regions of Indonesia such as Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua, and Sulawesi only. The biggest area of tidal swamplands in Sumatra is in South Sumatra Province. Tidal swamplands were a government reclamation project in the 1970s. The project involved migrants from Java Island to Sumatra Island. The reclaimed area is cultivated for rice farming. The total area of tidal swamplands in South Sumatra is 266,674 hectares and 161,917 hectares are in Banyuasin Regency (Statistical Center Bureau of Banyuasin Regency, 2018). It indicates that a potential exists for food security. Therefore, tidal swamplands are recognized as the food barn of South Sumatra. However, some problems such as pyrite or FeS2, peat, soil acidity, salinity, and others threaten the productivity of tidal swamplands (Wildayana and Armanto, 2018). Furthermore, the farmers in tidal swamplands still cultivate rice using chemicals such as pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides excessively, and intensively (Roche, 1994; Zahri et al., 2018). It was caused by the label of chemicals stating the chemicals will not reduce rice production. The most used pesticide by the farmers is pesticide containing high toxicity (Amir et al., 2012). Some factors influencing the excess chemical use are behavior, perception, and lack of knowledge (Jallow et al., 2017). The problems can be threats to the ecology of tidal swamplands. Many studies from some countries such as Australia (Cohen, 2007), Kenya (Tsimbiri et al., 2015), and Indonesia (Mariyono, Kuntariningsih and Kompas, 2018) stated that ecology degradation and decreased farmers’ health occurred because of the chemical use such as pesticide, fertilizer, and others. The state is supported by a phenomenon in which farmers still use chemicals in higher doses than recommended (Chauhan and Singhal, 2006). The impacts of excess chemical uses in the long- term are environmental degradation, CO2 emission, health problem, externality, and others (Yuan et al., 2017; Zeng et al., 2017). Therefore, preventive action should be taken. In terms of food safety, excess chemical use affects rice quality (Hong-xing et al., 2017). Many chemical residues