Socio Characteristics of Citronella Farmers in Kedungrandu Village, Banyumas District

Abstract Citronella is one of the leading commodities that have competitiveness and high export demand. Citronella is one of the primary ingredients for making essential oils. However, there are not many studies on the individual characteristics of Citronella farmers from a socio-economic point of view. This study aims to understand and analyze the personal characteristics of Citronella farmers in terms of gender, age, last education, farmers’ primary and secondary jobs, experience in farming and cultivation of Citronella, training attended by farmers, and the number of dependents of each farmer’s family. The research method used a survey method with the Simple Random Sampling technique. The data analysis tool used is descriptive statistics analysis. The results showed that the majority of Citronella farmers are male, aged 41-60 years. Most citronella farmers are educated up to elementary school and have their primary job as farm laborers. Citronella farmers mostly have side jobs as farm laborers for other commodities and, on average, have more than 20 years of experience in farming. However, the majority of citronella farmers only have less than three years of experience cultivating citronella.