I want to explore my English Skill in writing by posting an article about agriculture on this beloved blog. The title of this article is "Agriculture: New Hope for New Future". I want to spread optimism and belief that sustainable and efficient agriculture will give a good impact on economics also the environment and make young generations realize that maintaining our nature's condition and the potential of the sustainable ecosystem could give prosperity to the people. Let's start together!
In my previous posting, I wrote an article from The Conversation Indonesia that Agriculture Degree Graduates in Indonesia are not willing to be farmers. A lot of reasons cause this phenomenon. One of the fundamental reason, and I also feel it, is Agriculture Degree Graduates in Indonesia don't have enough time and experience to feel and do actual farming activities. So what they learn in the classroom at University is not followed by practical or field knowledge and exposure. It's a basic but crucial problem. Because without practical or field knowledge and exposure, the graduates cannot have big pictures of how to run and start agricultural businesses.
Based on my experience, the solution to this problem is how the University and Agriculture Degree Students make a cooperation with experienced farmers and agricultural companies to do a professional internship, so the students can feel real exposure to real-life cases and problems. Thank God that today there are a lot of programs from Kampus Merdeka and Merdeka Belajar that facilitate the students to experience real case studies of agriculture in companies, experienced farmers, or other organizations.
Based on my learnings, another solution to attract young generations to join the agriculture field and industry is by making the operation of agriculture sustainable and efficient. I read a book entitled "The Lean Farm" by Ben Hartman that teaches beginner farmers to maximize agriculture production in efficient ways by cutting off waste.
The main problem of today's agriculture is too much waste in more comprehensive views and a lot of aspects, not just too much waste on agricultural input, like water, pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds, but also from too long waiting of harvesting and complexity in the supply chain. All of that is categorized as waste. We also should change our mindset to make sustainable and efficient agriculture in an organic manner and natural cycle in nature. So we must do Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in sustainable ways.
It's time for me, you, and us, as young generations in Indonesia to make a breakthrough in Indonesia's agriculture sector. We must believe that we can do something for our beloved country, and one of them is to repair and increase the quality of the agriculture sector in Indonesia. Let's do small, act locally, and think globally that Indonesia will achieve prosperity and the status of a developed country when we can improve and add value to our agricultural production.
Agriculture: New Hope for New Future. Yes, We Can!
