Rural economy targeted in 20-year plan

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 01/17/2007 4:16 PM  |  Business

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In a romanticized picture of the Indonesian economy, well-fed farmers go to work in lush, green paddy fields and smiling fisherman pull up bountiful catches onto colorful, traditional sailboats.

Factor in environmental destruction, the effects of globalization, grinding poverty, official corruption and unfocused development, and you will have a more truthful picture of rural areas, economists say.

Now gloss over these negatives, and re-imagine the happy scenes, but this time with laborers using modern technology and farming techniques, and you will be imagining something close to the government's Long-Term Development Plan for 2005-2025.

""The point (of the plan) is how to bring Indonesia back to its status as a sovereign archipelago nation, with industrialized agriculture and fisheries as the country's economic backbone,"" State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta said Tuesday after she submitted the plan to a House of Representatives plenary session.

""We also aim to improve the nation's human resources, so that we can better manage our own natural resources, to support sustainable development that will help reduce poverty and unemployment levels.""

During the next 20 years, the government plans to industrialize and modernize the nation's rural economy so farmers can better compete with those in overseas markets, she said.

The vision will begin with the government's plan to invest a total of Rp 4 trillion (US$444.4 million) in the development of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.

""This will also include funds for the development of biofuel industries,"" Paskah said.

In its mid-term development plan -- a five-year breakdown of the long-term plan -- the government targets Indonesia to be food self-sufficient by 2009, with poverty levels down to 8.2 percent of the population and unemployment at 5.1 percent -- from present levels of 17 percent and 10 percent respectively.

The year will also see biofuels making up 5 percent of the nation's total fuel consumption.

Meanwhile, yearly development plans also released in the initiative, aim for growth of 6.3 percent for this year, from an estimated 5.8 percent in 2006.

Paskah would not comment on growth targets in the long-term plan, saying it outlined a general vision that would be used later to draw up more detailed initiatives.

The plan will now be deliberated by House legislators, who may vote to amend it.

In contrast to the rural focus of the government's plan, neighboring Malaysia is targeting fully developed-country status by 2020, focusing on information technology.

Key points in the Long-Term Development Plan

1. Encouraging sustainable growth so Indonesia can achieve a targeted per capita income of US$6,000 by 2025, with poverty and unemployment rates at below 5 percent of the population.

2. Improving education and health care to increase worker productivity and improve ratings in the international human development and gender development indices.

3. Establishing a robust economy by developing and industrializing the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors, increasing resource extraction and improving the performance of the services sector.

4. Establishing integrated and reliable infrastructure in the power, transportation, and telecommunications sectors to support more even national development.

5. Ensuring food security and providing housing for the poor, and improving development planning in the regions.

6. Continually reforming the nation's bureaucracy to provide better services to the public. Increased training and development of the police and the military.

7. Leading Indonesia to a greater role in international forums, with representatives actively participating in world affairs and pursuing international investment.

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