Govt must pay more attention to agriculture

Govt must pay more attention to agriculture

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The government must pay more attention to Indonesia's agricultural development, since this is likely remain a leading economic sector into the next century, an academic said yesterday.

Prof. Bungaran Saragih said in a scientific oration at the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) that the government needs to show greater commitment to the agricultural sector in its policies and development priorities.

"You can't expect small-scale farmers to do research for the advancement of (agricultural) technology... Nor can you expect them to build the facilities needed for agribusiness activities," he said.

"It is the government's job to improve the technology, human resources and infrastructure facilities specifically needed for agricultural development," he added.

Saragih, a lecturer at the socioeconomics department of IPB's School of Agriculture, gave his oration in a ceremony during which he was installed as a professor.

Indonesia, he said, needs an approach to development which will promote an even distribution of wealth and resources and be capable of generating more jobs and narrowing the socioeconomic gap.

Such an approach would also have to be both environmentally- friendly and able to withstand the impact of global free trade.

He said the most appropriate path to the achievement of these goals is through agribusiness and agro-industrial development.

"In the 21st century, at least in the first few decades, Indonesia's economic development will still be built on broad- based agriculture," he said.

"In line with this, developing small-scale agribusinesses and strengthening cooperatives will also be increasingly important," he said.

Saragih defined agribusiness activities as the manufacturing and distribution of farm supplies, production activities undertaken on farms and the storage, processing and distribution of farm produce.

He said that, in the past, agriculture and rural areas generally were seen only as sources of primary products. "No one saw the business potential which could be derived from those products," Saragih said.

Another advantage of developing agro-industry, Saragih said, was that it seldom burdened the government's budget. Moreover, such development is consistent with the principles of economic independence, since it relies on the country's domestic strength.

"If the bargaining position of small-scale agribusinesses can be improved, they can open the road to democratizing the country's economy," he argued.

Consequently, he said, a democratic atmosphere would reduce the economic losses which might otherwise occur in a market monopolized by a number of large businesses.

"But what is most important is the fact that the added value of agribusiness and agro-industrial activities are mostly at the upstream and downstream ends, which are off-farm activities," he said.

Ironically, however, these areas are out of the farmers' reach, meaning that they are deprived of a significant piece of the cake, he said.

"Village cooperatives should be able to become a bridge between farmers and off-farm activities, but they have yet to play an effective role," he added.

At the end of the first long-term (25-year) development plan in March last year, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the country's gross domestic product was 18.46 percent, while that of the non-agricultural sectors reached 22.33 percent. (pwn)