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Young farmers unlikely stay despite govt’s big pay promise for newcomers
The output of rice, the country’s major staple food for instance, dropped to 30.34 million tonnes last year from 31.31 million tonnes in 2019, BPS data show. Similarly, farmland has also been shrinking over the past years.
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Farm workers prepare rice seeds to be planted on agricultural land in Oloboju village, Sigi regency, Central Sulawesi, on May 14, 2020.
(Antara/Mohamad Hamzah)
T
he government is promising a monthly income of up to Rp 10 million (US$660) for young Indonesians to work as farmers, as it seeks to revive the country’s lagging agriculture sector, but experts and existing smallholders say it will be difficult to keep them in the job without a significant overhaul of the sector.
The new scheme would provide a group, known as the “brigarde”, of young farmers aged below 45 with tools and inputs sponsored by the government, which include seeds, fertilizer, tractors and a combine harvester, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The ministry said the outcome would be better than working in other jobs with the country's average minimum wage hovering at around Rp 3 million a month this year.
The group comprising 15 young farmers will be entitled to 70 percent of the profits with the rest going to land owners, which the government has selected for this program. The ministry estimates each group could generate over Rp 2.2 billion in profits annually if all harvests are successful.
“Many people are interested in becoming farmers, but retaining new farmers has become a big challenge even for us,” AA Gede Agung Wedhatama, founder of the Cool Young Farmers (Petani Muda Keren) community based in Bali, told The Jakarta Post on Nov. 19.
“In Bali, only 10 percent of new, young farmers stayed after becoming one during the pandemic, as others have left for more lucrative opportunities,” he added.
Read also: Lack of young farmers jeopardizes food security, say experts
President Prabowo Subianto vowed in his inauguration in October that the administration will make Indonesia a food self-sufficient country by the end of his presidency. In Nov. 21, Prabowo was reportedly asked to bring forward the target date to the end of 2027.
