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)