CAUSES OF AGRICULTURAL DECREASE IN INDONESIA

JAKARTA - The phenomenon of urbanization every year continues to occur post Lebaran (Eid ul Fitr) or long holiday in Indonesia.

The move from rural to urban is considered to be one of the causes of the decline of agricultural productivity in Indonesia.

Head Research Center for Indonesia Policy Studies (CIPS) Hizkia Respatiadi said the decrease in the number of farmers who choose to wander looking for different jobs affect the high production of food commodities.

Even this condition makes food self-sufficiency target more unrealistic.

According to him, urbanization from village to city is difficult to avoid. This continues to happen and the number is expected to increase every post-Eid celebration.

One of the causes of urbanization is the desire to find a decent living in the city because their income as farmers are not able to meet the needs.

"The challenges facing farmers are increasing. In addition to low levels of welfare because the wages received are also low, they are also faced with the diminishing size of agricultural land as they have to deal with industrialization. The younger generation also do not want to be farmers because they see their predecessors can not live prosperous, "said Hezekiah in his statement on Wednesday (20/06/2018).

Based on CIPS records, in 2014 54.8 million people work in the agricultural sector. This amount is equal to 34% of the total number of workers in Indonesia. But 34.3 million of them are poor or vulnerable.

This condition is considered contrary to the government's target to achieve self-sufficiency in food. Besides the stability of food prices, the welfare of farmers is also one of the benchmarks of the success of economic development.

"The government must address this issue with real solutions that can be implemented. Not only by extending agricultural land, the government should provide education for capacity building of farmers as well as the mastery of agricultural technology. The mastery of agricultural technology should also be followed by the revitalization of agricultural tools, "Hizkia explained.

In addition, Hezekiah also considered the government to fix the long food distribution chain. The length of the distribution chain makes farmers can not enjoy the expensive price of existing commodities at the consumer level.