Initiatives and Prospects for Sustainable Agricultural Production in Karangasem Regency, Bali, Indonesia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Authors focused on improving agricultural productivity to ensure food security while maintaining sustainability is a challenge that needs to be overcome in Bali, Indonesia. Ten farmers in Karangasem Regency, which is among the areas in Bali with a low food security index, were interviewed on their agricultural practices and government support for increasing the production of rice and chili—the main crops in the province—while maintaining sustainability. The results of the interview revealed that the farmers attempt to improve productivity by selecting rice varieties, cropping systems, and cultivation schedules based on their previous experiences, the Balinese calendar, and the recommendations of Subak—a traditional water-use organization. In addition, several farmers obtain information on fertilizers, pesticides, and cultivation techniques from agricultural extension workers. Moreover, the Bali Provincial Government actively encourages farmers to use biofertilizers and biological control agents. Thus, reliable cultivation techniques should be developed and agricultural extension workers who can properly convey these techniques to farmers should be trained to achieve both higher productivity and sustainability in agriculture. The subject matter is extremely important nowadays, as it enhances agricultural productivity and helps to minimize pollution of the environment.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

·         Line 40: The word Subak in the body of the manuscript is written once in uppercase and once in lowercase letter - please standardize.

·         Line 53: Lack of space between coma and 10.

·         Line 326: Rp – the full name should be entered in parentheses. When an abbreviation is given for the first time its full name should be given.

·         Figures 1, 2, 3, 5: inscriptions are not very readable.

·         In addition to information obtained from interviews with farmers, can a literature review be inserted into the manuscript? This would provide more data necessary to characterize the topic of the publication and highlight the problem regarding the increasing of agricultural productivity.

·         The conclusions are too short and should be developed further.

·         Whether is it possible to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) for current and planned strategies to balance agricultural productivity and sustainability? It is possible that demonstrating a reduction in CF and thus a reduction of negative environmental impact would become an additional driver and motivation for climate protection efforts.

Author Response

Below is an explanation of our responses to comments on the revised manuscript.

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Reviewer 2 Report

The article submitted for review contains research based on an interview conducted with 10 farmers. This is a case study rather than a study that can be generalized to a population. The authors should explain what the criterion was for selecting farmers for the interview. Why only 10?

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Author Response

Below is an explanation of our respomses to comment on the revised manuscript.

We have indicated our responses to comment and revisions to the manuscript in blue. Please see the attachment.

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Reviewer 3 Report

1. In line 57 of the manuscript, the three indicators used to calculate the food security index availability, availability, and accessibility please specify.

2. In the 80-82 lines of the draft, are the annual temperature and humidity values average ?

3. Whether the number of ten farmers selected by the interviewees is too small ? And the land area owned by these farmers, planting experience are quite different, is it easier to make the conclusion deviation ?

4. Please delete the hyphen ' - ' at the end of each line in the manuscript.

5. In the part of manuscript 3.2.2, the relationship between the specific needs of pepper and the amount of planting is explained by literature.

6. In the 188th row, the yield of pepper is 2.4 to 25.2 t/ ha, this value span is very large, please use the reference to explain the factors that affect the yield of pepper in detail.

7. 7.3.3 Does part of the government 's response come from the Ministry of Agriculture officials mentioned in part 2.2 ?

8. 3.4 part, farmers access to agricultural information in the way, the emergence of 'Several farmers ', ' Some farmers ' and other description of the word is not accurate, the specific number of how much ?

9. Figure 5 indeed affirms the contribution of agricultural extension workers to a certain extent, but it can be noted that there are still some sources of production information that are not provided by them. Can they be supplemented in part 3.5 as their future work direction ?

10. Both lines 151 and 193 in the manuscript mention that insufficient light is an important factor affecting crop yield, but finally no solutions are proposed, such as optimizing the field layout, using reflective materials around the farmland, and so on.

Author Response

Below is an explanation of our responses to comments on the revised manuscript.

We have indicated our responses to comments and revisions to the manuscript in blue. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

This article interviewed ten farmers in Bali to understand their agricultural practices and government support for increasing the production of the province's main crops, rice and chili, while also proposing initiatives for sustainable development in the county. However, there is a question that needs to be specifically raised in the article. The author only interviewed ten farmers, and whether the sample size is too small and the data is reliable needs to be determined by the editor in chief. In addition, the author needs to answer the following questions regarding the content of the article.

1. The summary of the main research content in the abstract is insufficient and needs to be supplemented.

2. Why did Figure 1 list factors 2, 4, 6, 7, and 15 without explaining their reasons. The remaining figures also have this problem.

3. The meaning of the vertical axis in all the figures is not indicated.

4. The theme of this article is sustainable development, but there is not much thinking and discussion around the theme.

5. Is it convincing that there are only ten samples.

6. Propose initiatives and prospects for sustainable development, only interviewing farmers to see if they are sufficient and reliable, and whether additional statistics are needed.

7. The suggestions for sustainable development in the Karangasem region are a bit broad and require more detail.

8. The pixels in all the images are somewhat low and unclear.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Below is an explanation of our responses to comments on the revised manuscript.

We have indicated our responses to comments and revisions to the manuscript in blue. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Well done!