Household and Agricultural Expenditure Inequality among Orange/Tangerine Farmers in Punten Village, Batu City

Abstract

Batu City has experienced a marked shift from apple to orange/tangerine cultivation, yet little evidence is available on how expenditures are distributed within farming households undergoing this agricultural transition. This study analyses household consumption and agricultural production expenditures among orange/tangerine farmers in Punten Village, Batu City, and identifies the expenditure categories in which inequality is most pronounced. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to April 2024 using a census of all 43 eligible farmers who had converted from apple to orange/tangerine cultivation. Expenditures for food, non-food items, annual lump-sum household needs, and agricultural production were recorded for the preceding 12 months. Distributional inequality was assessed using descriptive statistics, Lorenz curves, Gini coefficients, and Palma ratios. Combined annual expenditure averaged IDR 57.77 million per household. The Gini coefficient for combined expenditure was 0.31, while category-specific coefficients were 0.24 for food, 0.49 for non-food expenditure, 0.42 for agricultural production, and 0.46 for annual lump-sum expenditure. The overall Palma ratio was 1.018. These results show that inequality is substantially higher for non-food, lump-sum, and farm-production spending than for food consumption. The findings provide a descriptive baseline for understanding expenditure disparities in a horticultural community, while causal explanations and policy prescriptions require larger, comparative, and multivariate studies.