Authors:
Katherine Helen Aurora, Suci Normala, Riana Sari, Iskandar Muda
Addresses:
Department of Accounting, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia.
Abstract:
This study evaluates the impact of integrated agricultural programs on local community empowerment and agricultural performance in South Papua, a frontier region characterized by institutional limitations and market imperfections. Drawing on a mixed methods approach, the research combines household-level quantitative analysis with qualitative exploration of local institutional dynamics to examine how community-based agricultural empowerment shapes productivity, income, and production stability. Quantitative findings from fixed-effects regression models indicate that community empowerment and social capital have positive, statistically significant effects on agricultural productivity and farmers' income. At the same time, their influence on production stability varies across communities. Social capital functions as a critical mechanism for reducing transaction costs and managing production risks, whereas participatory decision-making and market access primarily enhance income generation rather than productivity gains. Qualitative evidence further reveals that empowerment operates as an institutional process embedded within farmer groups, customary institutions, and local networks, rather than as a stand-alone technical intervention. However, structural constraints, including limited infrastructure, uneven market integration, and top-down policy implementation, moderate the effectiveness of empowerment initiatives. By providing new empirical evidence from an underrepresented frontier context, this study contributes to development economics literature by demonstrating that locally embedded institutions are central to achieving inclusive and sustainable agricultural development.
Keywords: Community Empowerment; Agricultural Productivity; Production Stability; Social Capital; Market Access; Development Economics; Institutional Dynamics.
Received on: 26/01/2025, Revised on: 18/04/2025, Accepted on: 07/08/2025, Published on: 03/01/2026
DOI: 10.64091/ATISL.2026.000272
AVE Trends in Intelligent Social Letters, 2026 Vol. 3 No. 1 , Pages: 11–19