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In the agricultural sector, labor reduction is a significant obstacle to increasing potato production and the use of machinery is considered an effective solution. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the potential and profitability of implementing agricultural machinery and develop a specific strategy in Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Data collection was carried out from September 2021 to April 2022, and the demonstration farming (demfarm) method was used to test three technology package, with and without agricultural machinery and with existing technology as a control. The study also surveyed farmer characteristics, use the demfarm method, and conducted focus group discussion on internal and external indicators influencing agricultural machinery development. Data analysis included the benefit-cost ratio (BCR), marginal BCR, and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The results showed that the development of agricultural machinery for potato cultivation was highly profitable, with a BCR of 1.28, suggesting that the development of agricultural machinery is worthwhile. The agricultural machinery technology demonstrated the best performance among the three packages studied. Based on the results, the policy strategy to support the sustainability of potato farming in Central Java involves the application of efficient agricultural technology by optimizing land availability, involving farmer institutions, and the use of agricultural machinery. |
