Kemenkop UKM Calls Indonesian Millennial Farmer Resources Achieve 6.1 Million People

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) said that currently Indonesia's millennial farmers' resources have reached 6.1 million people.

This was conveyed by the Deputy for Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Siti Azizah in the opening speech of Short Course: Agricultural Innovation Practices at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane on her working visit to Australia.

"The source of Indonesia's millennial farmer power now reaches 6.1 million people or 21.93 percent of the total farmers," said Siti Azizah as quoted from her official statement, Thursday, June 27.

Siti Azizah added that the number of Indonesian agricultural exports also increased by 5.32 percent. Thus, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia has also encouraged increased productivity in the agricultural sector through various policies.

One of them is by providing subsidized fertilizers and financing subsidies through People's Business Credit (KUR) of IDR 300 trillion.

"As soon as that potential, the Kemenkop UKM made a breakthrough by launching innovative programs aimed at creating more entrepreneurs to be able to compete globally," he said.

On the occasion of his working visit, Siti Azizah also invited the CEO of startups and leaders of selected incubators to bring innovation, ideas and hopes for collaboration between Indonesia and Australia.

It is hoped that the partnership can strengthen strategic steps in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and other partners in Queensland, Australia.

According to Siti Azizah, with this collaboration, Indonesian entrepreneurs have the opportunity to learn the best practices in the development of the agribusiness industry that have proven successful in Australia.

This is very necessary because the Government of the Republic of Indonesia is strongly committed to developing entrepreneurship in Indonesia by targeting entrepreneurial growth of up to 4 percent and increasing entrepreneurial ratios.

"We hope that there will be closer relations with QUT in developing a business and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Indonesia, especially in increasing the business capacity of the agribusiness sector," he concluded.