Now, Farmers Can Also Travel Around The World
Indonesian food imports have reached up to 200 billion and increase by 21 percent annually. In fact, Indonesia has the potential of owning the best tropical horticulture. Tropical fruits are very competitive with subtropical fruits so the opportunities they hold are great. “The market is broad, to enter the market we should be competitive and we can look for opportunities, therefore farmers must have knowledge,” said Rizki Maulana, a student of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, IPB University who is also part of the board of Sabisa Farm during the Figure Visit and Agricultural Education for high school students of the Benefiting Recipients (PM) of the Agricultural Sensitive Child Movement (GCAT), Saturday (2/2) in Bogor.
“Around the world at their own expense, visiting various regions to share knowledge, establish relationships with educational institutions and government, probably for most people it is impossible to do as a farmer, but it is not impossible for farmers who have knowledge and the mentality of entrepreneurs,” Rizki further described when describing the success of a dragon fruit farmers.
In this activity he also described some common problems farmers in Indonesia face. Amongst them is the fact that too many people prioritize high production quantity without focusing on marketing of the crop for future harvests. Farmers are expected to have the capability of processing the crops that focus not only on raw results which cause problems in cases of over-harvesting. By maximizing the utilization of production units, units of education, and recreation units on agricultural land can also maximize the income of the farmers. Therefore participants of this activity in addition of introducing ways of cultivation also introduced ways of managing the crop.
“The system of farm management and marketing of a good harvest can improve the income and welfare of farmers,” said Fikayatul K, one of the administrators of Sabisa Farm while conveying the material to PM GCAT.
The stigma towards farmers as dirty are commonly caused by low interest in the younger generation towards agriculture. In fact, there is still much to be improved and youth play an important role especially in the off farm fields of agriculture which are very wide compared to on farm agriculture.
“This activity is one of the mandatory agenda GCAT has in order to broaden PM GCAT to the real world of agriculture,” said Saints Martinea, a student of Faculty of Human Ecology IPB also as the coordinator of GCAT.
“The farm is seen as filthy and dirty because we think about agriculture that way, as the young generation we should become entrepreneurs and have dreams, are able to turn adversity into opportunity, transform despair into hope, and altering garbage into gold. We must abolish the image of farmers as the marginalized, that farmers can be successful and beneficial to others. Nowadays farmers can also travel around the world not only working with dirty-dirt with soil and hoe, do not be afraid to dream to be a farmer, “said Rizki while giving encouragement to the participants.
Sabisa (Learning Support Farmers Entrepreneurs Graduate) Farm is one of the units of Teaching Farm IPB has established through cooperation with Career Development and Alumni Affairs IPB, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB and IPB Alumni Association of the Faculty of Agriculture.
GCAT separate is a social movement that IPB students provide scholarships to children of farmers in Bogor. The objective of this movement is to open oppurutunities to the next generation of farmer children to continue their education to college. The program will include personal development training, tutoring for university entry exams, assisting beneficiaries in the form of agricultural zone, fieldtrip, character visits, and others. (AVR)
