'Farming remains subsistent activity'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo
\nsaid Indonesian agriculture development has yet to improve
\nfarmers' welfare because farming is still a subsistence activity
\nrather than a profit-generating economic enterprise.<\/p>\n
The Antara news agency quoted Siswono as saying in Pontianak,
\nWest Kalimantan, on Thursday that despite overall progress in
\nagriculture and increases in income per capita, the number of
\npoor, landless farmers is still high.<\/p>\n
Indonesia now produces over 50 million of tons of rice per
\nyear and reached self-sufficiency in rice in 1984. It went back
\nto importing in 1991.<\/p>\n
\"Our farmers have neither worked efficiently nor prospered
\nfrom farming,\" Siswono said at the Panca Bhakti University. He
\nwas speaking about the importance of opening new farming areas,
\noutside densely populated Java, as an \"urgent strategic move\"
\nneeded to deal with the problem of poor farmers.<\/p>\n
\"Our agriculture development has yet to motivate farmers to
\nstrive for prosperity,\" he said. He blamed the situation on,
\namong other things, limited access to land ownership.<\/p>\n
He said a great number of Indonesian farmers did not own land,
\nlet alone advanced farming technology.<\/p>\n
A 1983 census on farming found there were 9,532,000 farmers
\nthat did not own land. Ten years later, the number of tenant
\nfarmers increased to 10,937,000.<\/p>\n
In general, farmers are more prosperous than they were years
\nago, but workers in other sectors have fared even better, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The average farmer has 0.2 hectares of land, but the amount of
\nfarming land converted into non-farming plots such as real and
\nindustrial estates, roads and dams, has been increasing over the
\nyears.<\/p>\n
\"With such a small piece of land, it's difficult for farmers
\nto prosper and to work efficiently and productively,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Every year, 40,000 hectares of farm land is converted to
\nother uses,\" he said. He estimated that by 2005, when Indonesia
\nembarks on its eighth five-year development plan, the absolute
\nnumber of farmers will have declined significantly.<\/p>\n
He said the quality of farming can only be improved if
\nsubsistence farming is replaced with farming practices aimed
\ntoward economic development.<\/p>\n
To correct the situation, agricultural development needs to be
\nre-oriented from targeting production increases to increasing
\nfarmers' income.<\/p>\n
\"But what's more important is giving farmers more land,\" he
\nsaid. \"This policy has been implemented by almost all countries
\nwith successful agriculture development such as Netherlands,
\nAustralia, Argentine and Japan,\" he said. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/farming-remains-subsistent-activity-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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