Improvment the Welfare of Farmers

Improvment the Welfare of Farmers

There are four ways that can generally be taken for the improvment the income of farmers:

1.Expanding arable land,
2. Lowering the price of the means of production is needed.
3. Increasing the price of the products.
4. Increasing the productivity per unit area of arable land.

Agricultural development policies that were created for this is usually a combination of all four methods.
Farmers in Indonesia generally have a narrow field with a low level of welfare. Ownership of arable land per farmer is narrowing over time.

In the past, when the Indonesian economy is in a period of high economic growth, a lot of fertile agricultural land and even has a good irrigation facilities converted for other uses. As a result, agricultural land around the Greater Jakarta and major cities in Indonesia are slowly and surely turned into residential areas or industrial areas. At the accessibility of farmers on improved market centers for the development of transportation infrastructure, at the time it was also a chance for non-agricultural land use more open. Moreover, with the inclusion of electricity to agriculture and rural areas.

Improving the quality and quantity of various facilities caused the land in rural areas has increased, especially for industrial and residential purposes. Turns out, it could have a negative impact on the availability of agricultural land. Significant improvement of the facility was not wrong, and it is very necessary, because in practice will reduce production costs.

In addition, the improvement of accessibility to rural and agricultural areas will increase the degree of competition in rural markets where farmers sell their products. Thus, the improvement is a positive influence on the price of the product once it opens up various opportunities for family farmers.

However, the absence of rules, or the application of the rules are not clear about the conversion or the conversion of land from agricultural to non-agricultural land, the main cause of many productive agricultural land disappear. Increase the economic value of land is not fully fall on farmers and rural dwellers. The developers of housing and industry increase the rent to enjoy it. If an increase in the economic value falls at the nonpetani, or non-rural communities, there should be a mechanism to compensate. Economic Impact
If rapid economic growth can have a negative effect on agricultural land, especially in urban areas, the economy deteriorated even have a negative impact on the area of ​​land per farmer. Therefore, the decline in employment opportunities outside of agriculture, family farmers find it difficult to obtain employment outside the agricultural sector.

Moreover, the level of education they averaged only elementary school even lower.
Acreage that has the narrow, more narrow, since the division of the land among the sons of farmers.
In the short term, improving the welfare of farmers can not be done by increasing the amount of land per farmer. Even thought, narrowing of arable land per farmer will continue if the economy does not grow rapidly and employment opportunities in off-farm sector can not be created.

Therefore, monetary stability is required, in addition to improvements in the security aspects that investors are willing to invest their capital back.
Limited opportunities to increase the area of ​​land per farmer, making possible the opportunity to increase their earnings is by falling prices of agricultural inputs, increase the selling price of products produced by farmers, and increased productivity. The decline in prices of inputs is usually done by providing subsidies. However, this method is slowly removed for violating trade rules, especially if the product is for the export market. Alternatively, the subsidy was removed for reasons of inadequate budgets and reasons distortive effects that can decrease efficiency.

Increases in product prices farmers are increasingly difficult to do, even in the international market prices tend to decline, particularly of staple food products. Policy or an attempt to isolate the Indonesian market to the international market is not feasible, because it would be detrimental to consumers or to create market distortions and other negative impacts.

Meanwhile, the increase in prices through the price mechanism or subsidy policies are also difficult given the limited budget and the lack of distributive effects. Still questionable whether such a mechanism can guarantee that the beneficiaries are small farmers or farm workers, small plots of land. Increasing the price of agricultural products, particularly staple food, is also considered to be detrimental to poor consumers in urban areas has increased the political tension in the big cities.

Technological advances cultivation, since the upstream and downstream, is the best way to increase the income of farmers. Experience the green revolution in rice farming can be a good example. Through the program, formerly called Panca farming, farming productivity can be enhanced significantly, which also led to price stability and socio-political stability.

However, success stories in the past it seems to stop there. Until now, there has been no breakthrough technology and institutions can significantly improve the productivity of the land. Therefore, we have created an environment conducive to the improvement of cultivation technology since the creation of the seeds to the planting and harvesting at the farm, and even the product is in the hands of consumers. In the end, the farmer who determines whether an alternative technology that created it can increase income or welfare of the family or not. and other program to to boost the income of farmer through the effective usage of all potential food resources as food diversification.

However, the success stories in the past it seems to stop there. Until now, there has been no breakthrough technology and institutions can significantly improve the productivity of the land.
Therefore, we have created an environment conducive to the improvement of cultivation technology since the creation of the seeds to the planting and harvesting at the farm, and even the product is in the hands of consumers. In the end, the farmer who determines whether an alternative technology that created  can increase income or welfare of the farmer family or not.