Sustainability assessment of chili farming in the highlands of Pacet Sub District, Regency of Cianjur, West Java

Chili farming in the highlands is facing the problem of decreasing land fertility due to the loss of soil top layer, high humidity and rainfall that causes more pests and disease. Therefore, soil conservation, pests and plant diseases controlling are the priority in management of chili farming and these efforts are practically in line with the goal of sustainable agricultural development. This study aims to analyze the sustainability status of chili farming in the Highlands of Pacet Sub district, Region of Cianjur, West Java Province. Method of sustainability assessment using multidimensional scaling approach with RAP- Chili technique that includes 34 attributes on dimension of environment, economic, social, technology, and institution. The results show that chili farming in highlands of Pacet was quite sustainable with an index about 54.39 percent. Out of five dimensions, environment and economic dimension had the highest index in moderately sustainable category while other dimensions were less sustainable. Thus, improvement toward sustainable chili farming could be prioritized on less sustainable dimension which were social, technology and institution by considering leverage attributes of those dimensions, namely extension program, application of bio pesticide and pest trap, post harvesting technology and availability of marketing institution.