Reducing this poverty will not be an easy task, but it will not be an especially difficult one if done in earnest and if everyone does their respective job.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions Development, and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, has said he is optimistic that President Joko Widodo's target of zero percent extreme poverty by 2024 can be achieved.

In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, he said that plans to mitigate extreme poverty in villages have been prepared through a number of schemes.

One of them is the development and involvement of villagers in Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) business units, he informed.

"BUMDes contribute the most in the development of villages and bolstering villagers' economy," Iskandar noted.

In 2021, around 45,233 BUMDes that remain active have employed more than 20 million people and generated revenue up to Rp4.6 trillion, he elaborated.

In addition to the people's direct involvement in BUMDes, he said that his ministry will raise villagers' earnings through Village Fund Cash Transfers (BLT), Village Cash Labour Intensive Work (PKTD), and a number of other empowerment programs.

Related news: Amin sees extreme poverty rate dipping to 8% by 2024

"Reducing this poverty will not be an easy task, but it will not be an especially difficult one if done in earnest and if everyone does their respective job," he remarked.

The minister opined that the root of the development problems villages face lies in the villages themselves.

"The solution for the majority of problems can be resolved from villages since villages dominate most of the problems in Indonesia," he remarked.

In terms of territory, around 74,961 villages in Indonesia comprise 91 percent of Indonesia's entire territory, while around 43 percent of the nation's population resides in villages, he noted.

The World Bank has classified people living in extreme poverty as those earning less than US$1.91 per day.

It has projected that global extreme poverty will increase by 88 million to 115 million in 2021 due to the economic contraction seen in several countries amid the COVID-9 pandemic.

Related news: NTT should boost agriculture production to eliminate poverty: VP

Translator: Sigit Pinardi, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021