Jokowi Special Staff Eyes to Create 100,000 Millennial Farmers

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi’s special staff, Billy Mambrasar, announced that his team was determined to support the 2.5 million millennial farmers program initiated by the Agriculture Ministry.

One of the agendas, he said, is establishing a resonator program or creating farming leaders for the modernization of agriculture.

“In the early stage, we will target crucial provinces such as Papua and Central Kalimantan,” said Billy in an official statement of the Agriculture Ministry in Jakarta, Tuesday, October 13, 2020. These two regions will be pilot provinces that create farming leaders among the youth generation.

According to Jokowi special staff, there will be training events in ten provinces that are expected to create 100,000 millennial farmers. “In the future, it is not just to supply the national need of food but it is also export-oriented,” Billy said.

Through the training, he hoped participants will not only comprehend on how to boost productivity but also how to access markets for a commodity by using digital technology. “Such as startup and partnership with others.”

Billy argued that millennials must return to the agricultural sector because, in the current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the farming industry is considered the most stable sector.

Its growth rate is also the highest among other sectors so that it is proven to be a mainstay sector in the archipelago, Billy said.

Referring to the Indonesia Statistics or BPS data, the agricultural sector was the biggest contributor to Indonesia's national economic growth at 16.24 percent (quarter-to-quarter or qtq) in the second quarter of 2020, while the economic development hit minus 4.19 percent (qtq).

Read: Disorganized Food Policy

FAJAR PEBRIANTO