Kusumawati, N. dkk Preferensi Petani.. MEDIAGRO 75 VOL. 11. NO. 1. 2015. HAL. 75- 91 PREFERENSI PETANI TERHADAP SISTEM TANAM PADI JAJAR LEGOWO (Studi Kasus Di Desa Tambakrejo Kecamatan Patebon Kabupaten Kendal) Nani Kusumawati, Lutfi Aris Sasongko, Rossi Prabowo Program Studi Agribisnis Fakultas Pertanian Universitas Wahid Hasyim ABSTRACT Paddy is the main food source for most of the population of Indonesia. The paddy crop harvested area in Patebon District in 2011 reached 2.334,47 Ha with a production of 15.603,97 tons. In Tambakrejo Village, the paddy crop harvested area in 2011 reached 132,50 Ha with a production of 861,25 tons. The purpose of this study was to determine the farmer preferences of jajar legowo paddy cropping system. The research used the descriptive method and the research location was selected by purposive method. The research location was Tambakrejo Village because farmer in thats village generally used jajar legowo cropping system. The farmer samplings were determined randomly, which was in a number of 90 respondents. The research used the tabulation analysis method and chi-square analysis. The result of this study showed that most farmers apply jajar legowo paddy cropping system with a percentage 63%, it’s mean that jajar legowo paddy cropping system have a high preferences in Tambakrejo Village. Farmer selected jajar legowo paddy cropping system because this system can facilitate the proses of fertilization, weeding and pest control, but it’s not profitable economically. This is because farmers in Tambakrejo Village do not implement the rule of recommended planting system so the production is not optimal and do not give enhancement in profits. Characteristics land area, motivation, age and education level have a significant relationship with the farmer preferences of jajar legowo paddy cropping system. Keywords: Farmer, Jajar Legowo, Preference. PENDAHULUAN Sistem tanam padi merupakan hal yang sangat penting dalam melakukan budidaya padi. Cara menanam padi yang baik akan menentukan keberhasilan budidaya padi. Sekalipun cara menanam padi sawah dianggap budidaya mudah akan tetapi kegagalan panen masih sering terjadi hampir di seluruh wilayah di Indonesia, apalagi ketika budidaya tanaman padi terserang hama tikus, sudah bisa dipastikan hasil panen menurun sangat signifikan bahkan seringkali menyebabkan puso. Sekalipun mudah, jika kita menguasai cara menanam padi yang baik niscaya akan meningkatkan produktivitas pertanaman. Sistem tanam jajar legowo juga merupakan suatu upaya untuk meningkatkan produktivitas tanaman. Prinsip dari sistem tanam jajar legowo adalah meningkatkan populasi tanaman dengan mengatur jarak tanam sehingga pertanaman akan memiliki barisan tanaman yang diselingi oleh barisan kosong dimana jarak tanam pada barisan pinggir setengah kali jarak tanam antar barisan (Deptan, 2012). Saat ini, sistem logowo sudah mulai banyak di adopsi oleh petani di Kabupaten Kendal khususnya di Desa