The launching of the Millennial Farmers movement program manifests the serious commitment of the ruling government to accelerate government in Papua Island. The goal is to encourage national (and regional) food security through the capacity building and the capability of Indonesian youths in two provinces of Papua and West Papua.
This article will present the general development acceleration programs that lead to the above program in question.
BAPER – The 5 Accelerated Development Programs
One of the Presidential Special Staffs, Billy Mambrasar, has coined the five main accelerated development programs for Papua and West Papua. He introduced and shortened them as “Anak Muda BAPER” or simply “BAPER”, which stands for “Bawa Perubahan”. It means “Bring Change” in English, hence the youth that brings change.
These programs will be a co-activity with other related ministries. Also, Billy has appointed the indigenous People youth (OAP) as the drive or actor of these programs.
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Papua Youth Creative Hub
The purposes are to create young Papuan entrepreneurs and manage the training ecosystem and business capital by Papua Muda Inspiratif (PMI). This program expects to produce 100 young Papuan entrepreneurs in the MSMEs sector, start-ups, and the creative industry.
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Millennial Farmers
The goal is to create 100,000 millennial farmers in 10 provinces of Indonesia (20,000 farmers in Papua Island). This program combines technical training up to capital access and processes to be connected with the market.
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The Papuan Talent Management (MTP) website
It will be a platform that accommodates the best talents exhibited by the indigenous children and youth of Papua. They will receive continuous training and the opportunity to have links to the public offices and private sectors.
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Non-Formal Learning Centers
The objective is to deliver access to education so that the indigenous people can attain life skills or survive, following the Papua local contexts.
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Policy Bootcamp for Papua.
An application and website serve as a platform to accommodate ideas, feedback, advice or other inputs from all Papua people, especially the young ones.
Millennial Farmers Movement Program – What is it?
On 20 May 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, and the Millennial Presidential Special Staff, Billy Mambrasar, launched the Millennial Farmers program for Papua and West Papua. This virtually connected event was on the same day of the National Awakening Day commemoration.
The program embodies the President’s (and the government) commitment to developing the eastern parts of Indonesia. It is one of their efforts to improve or even accelerate development in Papua Island.
Following Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2020, the program has comprised the action plan for development acceleration, particularly in the agricultural sector. In addition to Papua and West Papua, the program also will reach out to other eight provinces. They include NTT, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Aceh, Central Kalimantan, East Java, Central Java, and West Java.
The ultimate target of the program is creating 100,000 millennial farmers in those ten provinces. The number breakdown is 80,000 farmers in eight provinces and 20,000 farmers on the easternmost island of this country.
Inter-ministries and other related institutions will support the program by delivering multi-stage training. The youth farmers will learn about the technology capital, their ability to run businesses and MSMEs, and their capacity to become agricultural commodity exporters.
In other words, the program combines technical training, capital, and processes to have a potentially prospective link to the market.
The Millennial Farmers Movement in West Papua
The fundamental idea behind the Millennial Farmers program in West Papua is to achieve a development acceleration based on the welfare of the indigenous people (OAP). It means that any development efforts have to thoughtfully consider the indigenous people in every aspect, including the development of the agricultural sector.
Millennial Farmers program is thus the concrete manifestation of the above commitment to the people of this land. And this time, it designates the young people of this land.
Moreover, the Central Bureau of Statistics (Statistics Indonesia) has released data showing that the largest absorber of labor in this region is the agricultural sector. It reaches nearly 24% of approximately the 400,000 present workforces. Therefore, the expectation is to have more young Papuans engage in the agricultural sector.
The government, through the program, encourages the young farmers in West Papua to implement crop development activities. The multi-stage training will help the creation of farmer corporations, especially in the form of business entities managed by the indigenous Papuan youth or other youth residents of this region.
As previously mentioned, those young people who already registered to this Millennial Farmers program will receive training and access to agricultural facilities provided by the government and private sector.
Also, the Papua Muda Inspiratif (PMI) coordinator will give their best to maintain the coordination with the Ministry in conducting the training, capital, land processing, and technology transfer.
Likewise, the accelerated development program of Millennial Farmers in Papua and West Papua requires synergy and coordination among related stakeholders. It will ultimately urge young Papuans (and all Papua people) to bring change to their lives, increase their abilities and capacities, survive, and improve their welfare.
