Indonesia faces serious challenges in agriculture<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah
\nwarned that the agricultural sector will face serious challenges
\nwhich must be dealt with as the country heads towards economic
\nglobalization and free trade.<\/p>\n
"The problems include the widening gaps between the growth in
\nagriculture and other sectors, the widening deficit of the
\nbalance of payments in the overseas trade of food, the increasing
\nnumber of small-scale farmers, environmental degradation, the
\ndeclining of most commodity prices and the slow realization of
\nagricultural land expansion," he said during the 13th national
\ncongress of the Institute of Indonesian Engineers on Monday
\nnight.<\/p>\n
"These problems need our serious attention...because Indonesia
\nis still an agrarian country after all," said the minister, who
\nis a trained engineer. He did not, however, cite any figures to
\nsupport his remarks.<\/p>\n
Official statistics have projected that while the country's
\neconomy is to grow by 6.6 percent per annum in the coming five
\nyears, the agricultural sector is expected to grow a mere 2.4
\npercent every year.<\/p>\n
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture reveals that in 1993 the
\nagricultural sector, which contributed only about 18.5 percent to
\nthe gross domestic product, must support about 51.1 percent of
\nthe country's total families.<\/p>\n
Small<\/p>\n
Recent reports show that the number of small-scale farmers
\n(defined as those who own less than 0.5 hectares of land) has
\nescalated to about 12 million at present from 9.5 million last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
This also means that out of all farmers surveyed by the
\ngovernment, about 51.6 percent are classified as being small-
\nscale this year. The figure was only 50.9 percent last year.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin had conceded early this year that besides declining
\nincomes for farmers, there is also a rise in the number of
\nlandless farmers, especially for those living in Java.<\/p>\n
Arable land owned by Javanese farmers dropped by 16.4 percent
\nto 4.6 million hectares in 1993 from the year before, the
\nminister said in February.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin also said Monday that in order to meet these
\nchallenges the country must step up investments in agriculture to
\nimprove the sector's infrastructure, human resources and
\ninstitutional development. (hdj)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-faces-serious-challenges-in-agriculture-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}