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Agriculture sector catches Indonesian workforce amid falling job market
Nearly 3 million Indonesians joined the agricultural workforce last year as millions, mostly in towns and cities, lost their jobs and businesses during the economic downturn.
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A farmer plows rice fields using two buffaloes on agricultural land near a rest area of the Bawean-Salatiga toll road in Central Java on Nov. 2, 2020. Ahead of the rainy season, farmers have begun preparing for the next crop of rice. JP/PJ Leo (JP/P.J. Leo)
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usiness owner-turned-farmer Ijon Purba, 33, closed his small coffee shop in Medan, North Sumatra, early last year to plow the earth of his hometown, Liang Pematang village, in neighboring Deli Serdang regency, amid the pandemic.
Medan’s mobility restrictions prevented customers from visiting his 1-year-old shop, forcing him back to his village, where he has been farming coffee beans and shallots on less than half a hectare of land to make ends meet for his family.
“Laborers and professionals in cities were not the only ones who suffered from the economic downturn; coffee sellers also faced a very bad threat,” Ijon told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview on Thursday.
"I still have the option of running my shop, but I think I'm choosing to concentrate on the plantation."
Ijon is among the 2.77 million Indonesians who joined the country’s agriculture workforce last year as millions, mostly in towns and cities, lost their jobs and businesses during the economic downturn.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that Indonesia’s agricultural workforce grew 7.8 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 38.22 million in August 2020. The proportion of agricultural workers to the overall workforce rose 2.23 percentage points to 29.76 percent that month, contributing the largest share followed by trade and manufacturing.
BPS head Suhariyanto said on Wednesday that the proportion of agricultural workers had increased during the pandemic, but the sector’s contribution to GDP remained the same at 13 percent, which risked the sector’s overall productivity.
