Mapping Indonesian Provinces Based on Leading Plantation Commodities with Export Potential Using Multidimensional Scaling Analysis

Abstract

Indonesia, as an agrarian country, benefits significantly from its plantation subsector, which contributes substantially to the national economy. However, the processing of plantation products in Indonesia remains largely limited to raw or semi-finished goods, resulting in low added value and restricted income for both farmers and the nation. This study aims to map Indonesia's provinces based on the production of key plantation commodities with high export potential, utilizing the Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) analysis method. The research focuses on commodities such as pepper, palm oil, coconut, rubber, coffee, cocoa, clove, and tea. It seeks to group 34 Indonesian provinces based on similarities in plantation production, providing valuable insights for policymakers to enhance production and increase export value. The analysis calculates inter-provincial similarities to determine distances between objects and evaluates the accuracy of the MDS mapping using STRESS and R² values. The findings indicate that 12 provinces share similarities in cocoa production, while 7 provinces are closely aligned in the production of pepper, rubber, and coffee. Furthermore, 5 provinces exhibit similarities in palm oil production, and 9 provinces demonstrate commonalities in the production of coconut, clove, and tea. The analysis achieved a STRESS value of 0.024 (2.4%) and an R² value of 0.9994, indicating that the MDS mapping is highly reliable. However, the results do not fully align with field data, suggesting the need for orthogonal transformation through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to improve accuracy.