The Development of Paddy Water Productivity Model in Semi- Arid Region of West Timor

Abstract

Food production requires many factors of production, especially water. The challenge in semi-arid areas such as West Timor is how to produce food using optimal water input; the main recommendation of the world today is to increase crop water productivity. This study aims to build a model of water productivity of rice plants by taking into account external factors. The data used is a secondary data panel of 16 years; the model is built using the response surface method with historical data design. The results showed that the water productivity model of rice plants is a cubic model that has reduced model components (reduced cubic model). External factors affect the water productivity of rice plants. The interaction of the independent variable of rice planting area and its interaction with several independent variables have a significant effect on the water productivity of rice plants. It is recommended to optimize this model for further analysis purposes.