ABSTRACT
Collective management of village land is an effort made to sustain culture and traditions within a village community as well as a manifestation of sustainable rural economics. This chapter examines the dynamics of village land management from various aspects, such as typology and allocation, transformation, legal basis, and mechanism. This study was conducted in Lerep Village, Ungaran Barat Sub-District, Semarang Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia, by involving key informants, including the village head, village secretary, hamlet head, and other village officials who received allotments of village land in the form of bengkok land. In addition to data collection, the distribution of questionnaires to 27 members of farmer groups who collectively manage bengkok land was also conducted. This study indicates that there has been a transfer of management rights in some of the bengkok lands, from the original system managed by individual village officials to a collective system run by farmer groups on a rental basis. The latter is the result of community-wide deliberations involving relevant stakeholders, where the land rental fee should adhere to village regulations in place. Such a system has strengthened the position of village land as an asset that can empower rural communities economically and sustainably.
