Commitment and Organizational Maturity: The Case of Partnership Between Sugarcane Farmers and Sugar Mills

Partnerships and other forms of public participation in decision-making have become central to policy-making. The phenomenon of the limitation of sugar factories in obtaining supplies of raw sugarcane, because they do not have their land or limited land, has led to a partnership relationship between sugar factories and sugarcane farmers as a solution. The focus of this article is to visualize sub-contract partnerships in the smallholder sugarcane sector from the initial process to the impact of the partnership, by adopting from the perspective of the partnership model of Boeck and Wamba, between The Lestari Sugar Factory partnership with the Sugarcane Farmers Group in Kertosono, Nganjuk Regency, Indonesia. In this analytical descriptive study, using a case survey method, data was collected with a qualitative approach to observation, semi-structured interviews, and document review. The results of the study show that organizational maturity contributes to the partnership loyalty of smallholder sugarcane farmer groups, but in the perspective of Boeck and Wamba, the results of the collaboration have not been optimal because there are still differences of opinion between the two parties in terms of profit sharing. The findings of the study suggest that to increase the loyalty of smallholder sugarcane farmer’s group partnership with Lestari Sugar Factory, a commitment is needed to increase the people’s sugarcane purchase price and the need to improve the cooperation agreement by completing the sanctions element for sugarcane farmers who do not provide sugarcane raw materials according to the agreement