Youth, Vocation, and Rural Industrialization
Vocational training can mitigate the disasters of unemployment and poverty that Indonesia’s youth face. As a result, there will no longer be a "pseudo group" that will be easily exploited by pragmatic interests.
In the next 20 years, a new disaster will hit Indonesia if the problems of youth unemployment and poverty are not resolved.
This productive group will become a “pseudo group” that is easily controlled by outsiders for pragmatic interests. Despite their adequate education, these young people do not necessarily have the skills and abilities to improve their or their family’s welfare
Using the Precise Village Data (DDP) 2022 on six islands, seven provinces, 12 regencies, and 42 villages, the youth population (16-30 years) is 31.20 percent, much larger than the 31-45 age group (30.90 percent). Meanwhile, the 46-60 age group reaches 24.57 percent and the over 61 age group reaches 13.34 percent.
The DDP 2022 also stated that the youth group has a fairly good level of education compared to other age groups. However, many youths are unemployed (9.66 percent) or poor (14.16 percent). This means that a relatively good education does not guarantee that a youth will find a job or prosper.
The question is, why is this happening? Following that, what potential can be explored to motivate youths and young adults? What instruments can be used to drive out pragmatic, external interests towards our youth?
Lost generation
Dutch rural sociologist Ben White (2019) has warned that low- and middle-income countries (including Indonesia) will experience youth impoverishment. This population of poor youth, according to White, is mostly found in rural areas. The factors that cause youth poverty are limited access to land for farmers, lack of youth involvement in dialogue on agricultural policies, and the reluctance of youth to become involved in rural organizations or movements.
These factors encourage rural youth to choose to migrate from their villages to result in a lost generation, here referring to a situation where rural youth choose to leave their villages to look for work outside the agriculture sector, which they deem unattractive and offers no hope for prosperity (Vellema, 2011).
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As a result of this lost generation, rural agricultural labor is dominated by unproductive farmers aged 45 years and over. As this writer notes, many young Indonesians leave the agriculture sector from the impressions of their parents and peers, who deem this sector to be unprofitable (Ningsih and Sjaf, 2015). The same is true for young people in India who prefer to work in the industrial sector rather than becoming farmers. Likewise, young people on the African continent who are highly educated do not choose to become farmers.
This phenomenon of the lost generation is paradoxical to the current situation in rural Indonesia, which illustrates the magnitude of the money circulating in villages. A study by Sjaf et al referring to the DDP 2022 shows this, which views the food market from the circulation of money for the consumption if 45 agricultural commodities in rural Java reaching Rp 3 billion to Rp 5 billion per village per month. Meanwhile, for rural areas outside Java, the figure is around Rp 300 million to Rp 3 billion per month.
With the villages on Java island comprising as much as 32.14 percent of the total number of villages, the minimum amount of money spent on food consumption is Rp 80.47 trillion per month (Rp 965.64 trillion per year).
Meanwhile, on the island of Sumatra, minimum spending on food consumption is Rp 7.66 trillion per month (Rp 92.03 trillion per year), and on the islands in eastern Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua), the minimum turnover is Rp 9.32 trillion per month (Rp 111.85 trillion per year). This means that the expenditure for 45 agricultural commodities consumed by Indonesians has reached a very fantastic figure of Rp 1,169.53 trillion per year. This figure is half of the 2022 state revenue of Rp 2.266 quadrillion.
Observing the fantastic figures above related to food consumption, the writer offers three critical notes.
First, the presence and potential of young people have not been optimized to develop the potential of the food market in rural areas. This fact can be seen from the assumption among young people, who think that the agriculture sector is unprofitable. Second, youth education is not oriented well towards developing the economic potential of the agriculture sector. And third, our rural development is still far from mainstream rural industrialization. What, then, is the solution to these three critical notes?
Three agricultural and vocational messages
At the end of June 2022, this writer attended a meeting organized by Bank Indonesia to discuss Indonesia's economic condition. This meeting, which gathered together academics and researchers, reminded the writer of a meeting in mid-2007 with the late Prof. Sajogyo, the “father of Indonesia’s rural sociology”, which asked about various things related to rural development. At the end of the meeting, Prof. Sajogyo said: "Indonesia can recover its economy and can become a developed country if it recognizes the potential of its rural areas properly."
This meaningful statement conveys three important messages to correctly identify the object or subject of the agriculture sector.
First, the country’s administrative structure consists of villages whose livelihood typology depends on agriculture. As many as 73.14 percent of all villages are agricultural villages.
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This fact shows that the Indonesia’s economic architecture is a rural economy based on agriculture that creates equitable development. Thus, the real development of Indonesia is agricultural development.
Just listen carefully. How did this sector again demonstrate its resilience when the world and Indonesia were struck by the Covid-19 pandemic? Only the agriculture sector was able to record positive economic growth among all other sectors.
Second, the main resource driving agricultural development is the rural youth. Just to highlight Prof. Sajogyo's prediction about the increasing number of rural youth groups with improved access to higher education. Therefore in the future, vocational education in agriculture is needed to prepare village youth who are tough, skilled, and possess specific expertise.
Reflecting on today's situation, what Prof. Sajogyo said has become a reality. Slowly and surely, Indonesia is entering the demographic bonus, in which the productive population is greater than the nonproductive population.
Third, agricultural development is based on rural industrialization. The meaning of rural industrialization is not building factories and bringing investment into villages to exploit the potential of agricultural resources.
The meaning of rural industrialization is to provide added value to agricultural and maritime commodities so the villages and their residents prosper. Limited access to land, technology, and capital is no obstacle to the driver of rural industrialization.
On the other hand, the principle of rural industrialization works through consolidating and organizing the rural youth into profitable agricultural businesses. Thus, rural industrialization requires empowerment supported by inclusive technology and not the other way around; pouring investment into villages without the management and participation of the villages and their residents.
From the three abovementioned messages, the writer underlines the need for instruments that can link the potential of young people with rural industrialization. The instrument in question is vocational education for transforming youth resources in rural areas.
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Taking into account the demographic and economic structure, as well as the fantastic market potential for food commodities in rural areas, vocational education should focus on preparing a young workforce, so young Indonesians can become reliable and skilled workers in overseeing agricultural development based on rural industrialization.
Vocational education should focus on developing a curriculum that provides young people with holistic understanding and skills in the processes that occur in the agriculture sector’s upstream, cultivation, and downstream. The vocational curriculum must also be able to produce young people who develop technology that meets the needs of villagers.
Likewise, mastery of technical, social and economic digitalization must be taken seriously, because the digital era is a given in future development. Not to forget, a curriculum on participatory management of investment in villages is needed so that rural industrialization supports the welfare of villages and their residents.
Finally, vocational training (both formal and informal), can mitigate the disasters of unemployment and poverty that Indonesia’s youth face. As a result, there will no longer be a "pseudo group" that will be easily exploited by parties with pragmatic interests. Let’s hope!
Sofyan Sjaf
Sofyan Sjaf, Rural Sociologist, IPB University
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.
