"Startup companies in the agriculture sector will create jobs for sure," Limpo stated here on Friday.
He called on millennials to apply advanced and innovative technology in the field of farming to bring them faster and bigger profits.
"In the farming business, you can get the result within 100 days," the minister remarked while drawing comparisons to businesses in the industrial sector that would take at least five to six years to earn profits.
He cited the example of an agricultural startup company in Pangalengan, West Java, that can earn Rp200 million monthly.
According to Limpo, young generations are reluctant to work as farmers since they assumed that farming is a job that entails working around mud and dirt, when in fact, the application of technology could simple the farmers' tasks at hand.
He remarked that the government had continued to support Indonesian millennials to form startups in the agriculture sector that apply advanced technology.
"The government will make an inventory of things that might be needed by millennials to develop a startup," he stated.
Indonesia and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has run the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Support Services Programme (YESS) program to create opportunities for rural youth to build their economic livelihoods through rural entrepreneurship.
It is aimed at stepping up their engagement in the rural sector, contribute to sustainable rural transformation, and develop a new generation of young farmers, agripreneurs, and rural supply chain actors.
The total project cost has reached US$72.71 million, with IFAD financing of $57.3 million. The project would run from 2018 to 2025. Related news: National Online Shopping Day to showcase local agricultural products
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Translator: Muhammad Zulfikar, Sri Haryati
Editor: Suharto
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