HAVMATE (HARVEST MATE): BREAKING THE BOUNDARY FOR FARMERS TO THE MARKET

Abstract

Indonesia is classified as an agricultural nation as 40% of the population still makes their living from farming (Ayun, Kurniawan, & Saputro, 2020). This needs to become a concern since agriculture not only makes economic contributions but also plays a crucial role in fulfilling basic needs and will continue to do so as the population grows. Unfortunately, in efforts to develop the agricultural sector, problems always arise that come from internal or external sides. One of the problems is that the agricultural distribution system in Indonesia still depends on the middleman's role in the purchasing and selling system (Lisarini & Adillah, 2020). The dependence of farmers and markets on the middlemen makes them have an important role in market conditions. The middleman is usually the one who determines the purchase price of the harvest. According to (Isnawati, Retty, Effendi, & Wardhana, 2017), middlemen often make purchases from small farmers based on the "tebat" system, namely buying harvests based on the area of land, not based on the number or weight of the harvest. In this situation, farmers are in a weak position in bargaining because they do not know the market price. The existence of middlemen also has led to a number of problems in the food distribution process including making long chains in food distribution (Megasari & Apreliana, 2020). Monopolies are also often carried out by the middlemen to gain large profits for themselves. Buy goods in large quantities and then hoard them, to make shortages. Furthermore, the hoarding of commodities by middlemen will cause a reduction in the quality of goods when they reach consumers in the market. Therefore, this capstone project is aimed at solving this problem by providing an integration web-based application where the farmer can find their market and offer their harvest to the potential distributor and customer. By eliminating the middlemen, the product is expected to have a good price and quality because there is no hoarding process.