“The government aims to attract thousands of new young farmers,” he said. That’s helped him to “implement better production management and harvesting schedules, as well as planting based on market demand,” he said. He’s been farming crops including cayenne pepper and tomatoes since 2008, and recently received training on cultivation technology. Skills being taught range from soil management to online marketing and operating equipment like smart greenhouses.ĭidin Silahudin, 37, is a millennial ambassador for the government in Cianjur, West Java. Training for 19- to 39-year-olds is being offered through village schools and international job schemes in countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia.
The program emphasizes the potential to innovate, not just to maintain a tradition. “We must focus on attracting millennial farmers who are more creative and adaptable to change,” Nursyamsi said. While that number includes some existing farmers looking to improve their skills, the government says most of them are new to farming. But it seems the exodus has been checked, with some 1.6 million farmers already trained up since the recruitment drive was launched in December 2019, according to Dedi Nursyamsi, head of the agriculture ministry’s human resources development agency. This means the farming population has long been shrinking, forcing the nation of 270 million people to rely on imports of a range of staples like sugar, soybeans and onions.
Farming families earn an average of 26.6 million rupiah ($1,876) a year - about half the minimum wage - and the work is demanding, insecure and subject to the vagaries of weather. So far, the results are encouraging.ĭespite a tropical climate and some of the largest swathes of fertile land in Southeast Asia, the country’s farms often lack the capital, expertise and technology to run efficiently. Success would mean reversing a global trend where tech-savvy youngsters were being lured away from rural areas to exciting startups and city jobs. (Bloomberg) - When Indonesia unveiled a plan to turn 2.5 million millennials into farmers within five years, it was a big ask.