Gov’t: Farmer Corporations Important to Improve Village Welfare

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy (Photo by: Documentation of Public Relations of Cabinet Secretariat)

Farmer corporations are vital for village development, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy said.

“Farmer corporation is expected to improve the standard of living of rural communities, provide access to finance, information, and technology, as well as to increase efficiency and strengthen marketing,” the Coordinating Minister said virtually at the National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Village Entrepreneurs Association (APEDI), Saturday (12/12).

The farmer corporation is an effort to solve agricultural problems in Indonesia. Through farmer corporations, resource management can be carried out in a more integrated, consistent, and sustainable manner so that businesses are more efficient, effective, and have high-quality standards in order to encourage economic growth in rural areas.

On the occasion, Muhadjir also said that regional development is one of the development agendas in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) for 2020-2024, where accelerating village development is a priority in regional development.

“This is a follow-up to President Jokowi’s vision since the beginning of the period that is to develop Indonesia from the periphery. Through that concept, it starts from the outermost, underdeveloped areas. I believe most of them are based in villages,” he said.

Village development, he added, needs to be carried out in an integrated manner to encourage the social, cultural, and economic transformation of the village. For this reason, it needs to be supported by good governance, developing rural areas into tourist villages, improving basic village services, and optimizing the use of Village Funds.

In addition to the supports from the Central Government and local governments, the Coordinating Minister stated that the role of organizations or associations that focus on village development is also very important to support village development, as well as to empower village communities to be economically independent.

The Coordinating Minister expressed optimism that APEDI, as the association  committed to alleviating poverty in rural areas, would provide  a meaningful role in village development.

“I hope that it will become a liaison for resources linkers, the resources needed by rural areas to advance their villages, this role can be played by APEDI,” he concluded. (PR of Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture/UN) (FI/LW)