Herbal Plant Farming Development Strategy

The demand for herbal plants has increased significantlyin the last few years, especially during the covid 19pandemic. People believe that herbal products have savorsto maintain body immunity. The purpose of this study wasto analyze internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) andexternal factors (opportunities and threats), formulatepolicies, and identify priority strategies that can be appliedby farmers in developing herbal farming. This researchhad conducted in Pace Village, Silo District, JemberRegency, from August to November 2021. The analysisused internal and external factors analysis, SWOT matrix,and QSPM analysis to determine priority strategies. Theinternal and external factor analysis showed that herbalplant farming was in Region V with defend and maintainposition. Based on the SWOT matrix, eight strategies hadearned to develop a herbal business. Based on the QSPManalysis, the key strategy was to increase farmers'knowledge regarding the prospects and marketing ofherbal plants, with a total value of 8.365

The demand for herbal plants has increased significantly in the last few years, especially during the covid 19 pandemic. People believe that herbal products have savors to maintain body immunity. The purpose of this study was to analyze internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats), formulate policies, and identify priority strategies that can be applied by farmers in developing herbal farming. This research had conducted in Pace Village, Silo District, Jember Regency, from August to November 2021. The analysis used internal and external factors analysis, SWOT matrix, and QSPM analysis to determine priority strategies. The internal and external factor analysis showed that herbal plant farming was in Region V with defend and maintain position. Based on the SWOT matrix, eight strategies had earned to develop a herbal business. Based on the QSPM analysis, the key strategy was to increase farmers' knowledge regarding the prospects and marketing of herbal plants, with a total value of 8.365.
How to Cite (APA 6th Style): Eliyatiningsih, Erdiansyah, I., Sari, V. K., & Nurahmanto, D. (2023) Due to that, farmers need to develop strategies to improve their herbal farming to become a profitable farming business. Abdillah (2019) stated that to enlarge market opportunities for herbal plants through increased interest in cultivation, education, and innovation related to herbal cultivation and processing, expand the distribution network of processed products, and develop partnerships with herbal farmers. Other studies reveal the strategy through advanced ginger cultivation technology, consistent and sustainable production, strengthening the market, and making it easier to obtain capital loans (Utomo et al., 2021).
The novelty of the research is the draft of a herbal plant farming development strategy from cultivation to marketing aspects. Previous research has only focused on product processing or marketing. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze the internal and external factors, formulate a strategy for development, and determine the priority strategy for herbal plant farming development in Silo District, Jember Regency.

Weight =
The total weight of certain variables The total number of variable weights Total internal weight = total strength weight + total weakness weight = 1 Total external weights = total opportunity weights + total threat weights = 1 The data analysis method to answer the second research objective used the Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Matrix. The SWOT matrix have used to formulate the strategies needed to achieve a goal, namely studying efforts that have become alternative solutions for managing and developing strategies (Salim & Siswanto, 2019). The method used to answer the last objective was the analysis of the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM). QSPM determined priority strategies that are the primary choice in developing herbal plant farming.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pace Village, located in Silo District, is the ginger production center in Jember Regency. The Statistics Indonesia of Jember Regency recorded that more than 55% of the total ginger production in Jember Regency came from Silo District. Farmers in Pace Village in the last ten years have been cultivating various herbal plants both as main crops and as intercrops besides coffee cultivation. Even though the potential for developing herbal plants is enormous, herbal cultivation is still second-income farming for farmers. It is because of the lack of information regarding market prospects and postharvest processing of herbal plants.
Strategy development is a plan to achieve a goal. To determine the proper strategy need to identify internal and external factors that influence herbal farming. Internal and external factors had identified through a discussion process with the Head of Farmer Groups, the local Agricultural Extension Officer, and the Head of Pace Village.

Internal and External Factors in Herbal Plant Farming
Analysis of internal and external factors had formulated through an evaluation matrix. Furthermore, to analyze a herbal plant farming development strategy based on internal and external factors, the Internal-External matrix (IE matrix) was used.  The productivity of herbal farming is still low. The average yield of red ginger is only 5 t/ha, whereas the optimum reach 10-15 t/ha. It is because herbal cultivation is still a secondary farming business considered less profitable than coffee cultivation which is the primary commodity.

b. Suboptimal cultivation system
Herbal cultivation is indeed not optimal because herbal plants are a side commodity considered less profitable to cultivate when compared to coffee commodities.

c. Minimum knowledge of farmers in cultivating herbal plant
Most of the farmers still have limited knowledge of cultivating herbs. Farmers only plant herbs randomly without proper procedures for cultivation. Thus, the resulting production still has low quality, and the amount of production is not continuous.

d. Less training to farmers
Pace Village is a coffee producer in Jember Regency, so the training given to farmers is still related to coffee cultivation. Training for herbal cultivation has not been intensive because herbal farming is still a secondary income. Murdayanti et al. (2021) stated that it is necessary to train farmers to support farming development which will impact increasing farmers' income.
The results of the analysis (Table 1)   The local community has made several herbal processed products such as herbal syrup, fresh ginger drinks, herbal soap, and aromatherapy oil (Erdiansyah et al., 2021). The existence of processed products will increase added value and opportunities for herbal farming to continue to develop. The demand for raw materials will continue so that farmers are motivated to continue cultivating herbs. c. Low selling price Farmers prefer to sell yields to middleman because the village is far from the city center or trade center, about 35 km. The far from the city center causes farmers to have limited access to information and the market (Sunarya et al., 2021). Another reason is that practical, easy, and fast, even though relatively cheap. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of small white and giant ginger on the market could reach Rp. 50,000 and Rp. 15,000 per kg, while the farmer's price is Rp. 28,000-30,000 and Rp. 5,000-8,000 per kg.
Based on table 2, the key opportunity in the development of herbal farming was the presence of processed herbal products, and the main threats were pests and plant diseases. The total score of the external matrix was 2.893. This value was included in the average category, in which farmers have a standard response in taking advantage of opportunities and avoiding threats.
Based on table 1 and table 2, the weighting results of the IFE and EFE matrix were 2.599 and 2.893, respectively. This value indicates that herbal plant farming was in region V or defend and maintain position. It seems that farmers have the potential to develop herbal plant farming. Mahanani et al. (2021) stated that strategies in a defend and maintain position were product diversification and market penetration.

Herbal Plant Farming Development Strategy
The further analysis was the SWOT matrix to formulate alternative strategies for herbal plant business development. Based on Rinaldi et al. (2019), there were four strategic groups in the SWOT analysis, and each strategy group had alternative strategies to be formulated for farming development.

Priority Strategy for Herbal Plant Farming Development
To determine the priority strategy in the development of herbal plant farming by analyzing the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). The preparation of the QSPM analysis was carried out based on the results of the SWOT matrix. The first step in compiling a QSPM was to assign a weight to each internal and external factor. The EFE matrix must be as weight as the IFE matrix. Then was to give an Attractiveness Score (AS). Based on the AS value, the Total Attractiveness Score (TAS) had obtained.
The TAS value had calculated by multiplying the AS value by the weight. Then the total value of TAS had calculated in each column of the QSPM. The total value ranked with the highest value as the primary choice of strategic alternatives. QSPM analysis showed eight alternative strategies formulated in the SWOT matrix, with the highest and lowest TAS scores being 8.365 and 7.361.  (2021) Based on the QSPM, the primary strategy in developing herbal plant farming was to increase farmers' knowledge regarding the prospects and marketing of herbal plants.
The results of this QSPM analysis were in line with IE analysis which focuses on the marketing strategy of herbal plant products. This priority strategy was expected to increase farmers' knowledge regarding it so that farmers were motivated to cultivate herbal plants. Theresia et al. (2016) in her research stated that the market has a significantly positive influence on farmers' decisions in running their farming businesses. Siahaan (2021) further explained that farmers would consider market availability in choosing the commodities they cultivate.
The increasing demand for herbal products impacts the country's economic growth positively (Othman et al., 2015). It is also evident from the high interest in cultivation, although the development of herbal products still faces several obstacles related to cultivation, harvesting, processing, and marketing (Nwafor et al., 2021). Kuswardhani et al. (2021) stated that the biggest obstacle faced by farmers was the lack of knowledge regarding the target market and less intensive promotions. Developing herbal plants with agro-tourism in several regions will be a promising concept in the future. This concept is an innovation for new tourist destinations and a learning space regarding the diversity of herbal plants and their processed products (Farsani, et al., 2018;Jadid et al., 2020;Waruwu et al., 2020). Similar to several previous studies (Kwankhao et al., 2020;Jairu & Acharya, 2022) stated that this concept had a significant impact on the development and increase in farm income.

CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis of internal factors, the results showed that the main strength of the herbal plant business development strategy in Pace Village was the supporting natural resources, and the main weaknesses were low productivity and suboptimal cultivation systems. Based on the analysis of external factors, the primary opportunity of the herbal farming development strategy was the existence of processed herbal products, and the main threat was pests and diseases of herbal plants. Based on the IE matrix analysis showed that the herbal plant business in Pace Village was in region V with a development strategy. Based on the SWOT matrix, eight alternative development strategies had obtained. The priority strategy selected based on the QSPM analysis was to increase farmers' knowledge regarding the prospects and marketing of herbal plants (WO1).

RECOMMENDATION
Local governments have expected to pay more attention to herbal plant farming due to the potential for abundant resources. So that farmers can increase the production of herbal plants and their income. The weakness of this study was interviewing only 35 respondents, which still does not describe the whole situation. The interviews and short FGDs conducted had not explored the problem in depth. Future researchers can carry out specific research so that the variables become complete and comprehensive.