Poverty is still haunting most residents of Bajarnegara, Central Java, where 70 percent of the population are seasonal farmers, while their income has never been sufficient to make ends meet.
Their income does not cover their three daily meals, which cost on average Rp 10,000 (99 US cents) each.
Many of the Banjaranegara residents, who account for 1.1 million in total, live in mountainous areas, where 80 percent of the regency area is situated.
Houses are mostly made from wood, and their floors are earth, rather than bricks.
Living in the mountainous puts Banjarnegara residents at risk because this area is prone to landslides during rainy season.
Their access to public healthcare centers (Puskesmas) in districts is not easy either, thanks to poor infrastructure and a 10 to 20 kilometers distance to the centers.
Moreover, residents can not afford high costs of medical treatment in the centers.
High costs of education also result in only 1 percent of total Banjarnegara residents acquiring high school degrees despite an adequate number of schools across the regency.
As a result, many of the Banjaranegara residents become migrant workers, of which 90 percent are female, making the regency popularly known among large contributors to Indonesian migrant workers.
According to the Banjarnegara regency administration's head of public affairs division Wahyono, more than 315,000 Banjarnegara residents - or around 30 percent of total regency population recorded this year - are still living in poverty.
He said the 315,000 poor people were included in 85,000 low-income households living in 273 different villages in 18 separate districts.
"The figure has declined by around 20 percent from 2005, where half of the regency's residents were poor," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
In that year, he said, low-income households accounted for 112,000, while 2008 saw 96,000 low-income households.
"We are fighting all-out against poverty. Our aim is that Banjarnegara will no longer be categorized as an underdeveloped regency in the Central Java province by 2010."
He said of 35 regencies and cities in Central Java, Banjarnegara was among three regencies currently categorized as poor, besides Blora and Banyumas.
According to Central Java provincial administration data, the three regencies were extremely poor in 1999, with Banjarnegara being the poorest and recording 52.4 percent low-income residents.
At the same year, Banjarnegara was followed by Banyumas, with poor residents amounting to 44.1 percent of total population. That year also saw 12 other regencies in Central Java living below the poverty line, with on average 38.3 percent of poor people.
To meet the 2010 target, Wahyono said, Banjarnegara Regent Djasri had ordered all district and village heads to draw up a poverty alleviation program.
All administrative officials, including 14 regency agencies' officials, involved in this program were bound by commitment contracts they had signed, he said.
"Under this program, every village head and district head must make a report about poverty handling as they do in their respective regions."
"And Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God!), there has been an encouraging decrease in poverty since 2005 although we admit that Banjarnegara's poverty statistics are still high."
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