Ministry of Agriculture Boosts Regeneration of Young Farmers

A number of young men thresh newly harvested rice with a machine (Doc)

THE Ministry of Agriculture continues to strive to develop young farmers in order to regenerate and anticipate food emergencies. The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) through the Center for Agricultural Education (Pusdiktan) in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Support Service (YESS) program.

To maximize this program, Pusdiktan held a Coordination and Evaluation activity for the Implementation of the YESS Program which has been running for 5 (five) years since 2019 which was held at the Claro Hotel Makassar from 7-10 August 2024. The activity was attended by the Head of the PPSDMP Agency, YESS Program Director, NPMU Project Manager, PPIU Project Manager in 4 provinces in the YESS Program area, Cianjur Regent, Representatives of Young Ambassador Beneficiaries, Head of Education UPT within the Ministry of Agriculture and others.

This program coordination and evaluation activity is a follow-up in order to accelerate the optimization of the YESS Program and Beneficiaries in supporting the main programs of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The YESS program is here to increase and foster the interest of young farmers in entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector through internships, technical guidance and training, improving farmer institutions, involving disability groups and gender equality, increasing the capacity of BDSP/BPP, increasing networks and business clusters through cooperatives and others.

Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman said that Indonesia must implement effective, efficient and transparent agriculture through agricultural development driven by millennial farmers.

“The Ministry of Agriculture is very committed to supporting the development of young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector throughout Indonesia. For that, we are trying to increase the regeneration and development of millennial farmers while ensuring that farming is cool through the YESS program,” said Amran

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Acting Head of the Agricultural Extension and Human Resources Development Agency (BPPSDMP), Dedi Nursyamsi, said that the YESS program has been quite capable of building sustainability and the growth of millennial farmers through increasing the capacity of business management skills and abilities, changing the business mindset, in order to boost agricultural production in Indonesia. One of them is through timely planting and selecting plant varieties that are in accordance with local environmental conditions, becoming a precise strategy to increase food production.

“Farmers are the main actors in increasing national rice production by increasing the planting area so that the harvest area increases and agricultural production increases,” he said.

The Head of the Center for Agricultural Education, said that through the YESS program, it is hoped that the beneficiaries of technical guidance, training, internships, PWMP, assistance in accessing KUR, optimization of networks/clusters through cooperatives can be continued by the Regional Government, said Santi.

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This is in line with the Head of the Cianjur Regency Agriculture Service in delivering the Success Story of the implementation of the YESS program in Cianjur Regency, which conveys the importance of cooperation with all parties in supporting this program so that it can be implemented and included in the superior youth program in the Regional Government work program after the YESS program ends.

“With good synergy, we are sure that the target of developing young farmers, creating business networks/clusters, increasing production and farmer welfare through the establishment of cooperatives can be achieved,” he said.

With the many achievements, benefits, and importance of the YESS program in building the sustainability of young farmers in entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector, it is hoped that the program can be continued by the local government.

The output of the youth program in the future is expected to be able to produce young farmers who are qualified, have a leadership spirit, and have intelligent and quality entrepreneurial, managerial, marketing and business development skills.