Rice is nourished by water, earth and sun and transform into gold.

1. Introduction
The current world population is (lebih baik pake angka mnisalnya 7.1
billion people) and according to the most recent (penelitian, misalnya United
Nations) census, estimates that the human population of the world is expected to
reach 9.6 billion people in the year 2050. The increasing of (human) population
must be accompanied by the fulfillment in human needs such as food/comestibles
(bahan pangan). Food certainly is the basic need in life but theres always new
challenge on agriculture sector in meeting the food demand. Those challenges
include decreasing of agricultural productivity due to escalation of environmental
degradation, land use*, climate change government policies, and inadequate
infrastructure.
Indonesia as one of the agricultural country has a strategic role in meeting
demands of both national and international food necessity. In Indonesia, most of
people work as farmer because rice is the main commodity and as a staple food of
Indonesian society. Data showed that the Indonesian rice field area is about 8.1
million hectares and the number of Indonesian rice farmers is about 14.1 million
people (Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia, 2013). It is a huge number when we look
at the data and the number of farmers' land area, but the fact Indonesia still need
import rice from other countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, India and the United
States for national food sufficiency. Statistic Indonesia data stated that rice
imports reported in 2013 reached 472,000 tons. These data showed that we face
many problems in governance of Indonesia because of agrarian land area and the
number of farmers are not comparable with the expected productivity.This is a
challenge for us as young people to become agents of change in Indonesia to
spark new ideas in solving the problems and address challenges in terms of
increasing rice productivity, ensure the quality of rice, and encourage the creation
of sustainable agriculture.

2. Factors of Decrease Rice Quality and Rice Yield Quantity

One of the problems concerning agricultural is a matter of quantity and
quality of rice commodities that are decreased, whereas now people not only see
the sufficient quantity but also the quality that also should be good . Many factors
affect the decrease in the quantity and quality of rice, such as: 1) environmental
degradation as a result of the industrial revolution that is not environmentally
friendly and the usage of chemicals in agriculture as it may leave residues in the
soil that damage the ecosystems and soil quality. 2) The management of the farm
is not maximized and not well integrated among agriculturalists, whereas it is
necessary to work together to build the farm management to increase rice
production. 3) Constraints irrigation, especially during the dry season because
most of farmers are still largely rely on rainwater for irrigation. 4) there is no
guarantee to farmers if the occurrence of failure due to natural disasters or other
events. 5) agricultural activities are sometimes not effective and efficient because
sometimes the number of parties involved in area/land of agriculture is greater
than the area that are both available and productive. 6) government policy on the
provision of agricultural capital has not been used by farmers maximally . 7)
Farmers culture and some farmers still not open accept new technologies. 8) the
role of the government such as socialization in agriculture sector is not done
maximally even reach deadlock or stop in some area
3. Solutions for Increase Rice Quality and Rice Fields Quantity
Indonesia with many problems facing agriculture sector still remain
optimistic to solving its step by step, this is because Indonesia has a lot of young
people who present ideas, innovation and care for his people. Young people as
rising generation id agents of change that will resolve the problems of the nation,
especially in the field of agriculture through increased rice productivity and
encourage the creation of sustainable agriculture.
I have a big dreams for the advancement of agriculture in Indonesia
especially to increased productivity of Indonesia's main commodities which is
rice. I want to help building agriculture from the bottom along with the small
farmers in the villages. I offer some solutions to improve the quantity and quality
of rice in Indonesia, those are:

a.

Encouraging farmers to work together to rejuvenate the land that has been
damaged through the application of several technologies such as composting
of livestock manure or straw then applied to the soil before planting rice.
Hopefully this compost can supply nutrients and multiply microorganisms in
the soil as decomposer. Compost fertilizer application is able to reduce the use
of chemical fertilizers because most of the nutrients already in the supply of
fertilizee. To maintaining the quality of rice, I attempted to ask the
government firmly against industrial wastes that give negative impact on the
environment especially for dangerous heavy metal waste. There are many
cases that prove the negative impact on the environment and food quality as a
result of irresponsible industrial activities. One of them is my experience in
dealing with environmental cases in the district Sumbawa Barat caused by
gold mining operations in using chemical methods involving mercury in the
extraction process. In this case I invite friends to resolve the issue through the

b.

application of phytoremediation technology.

Encourage farmers to jointly manage an integrated farming ranging from
preparation, planting, maintenance, integrated pest management, proper
fertilization, harvesting, and marketing. With the good cooperation between
farmers in managing their farms ranging from planting to marketing will
create discussion until reach the realization stage to improve the productivity
and income of farmers. This activity can be in the form of a community or
group and can also an anonymity with joint determination to improving

c.

agriculture, especially paddy .

Encourage farmers to build a rain harvesting irrigation system. The system is
built in a way to accommodate the water during the rainy season for use
during the dry season. This system can be done by building a tub around the
land as water tanks. However, the disadvantage of this system is the volume
of stored water is not great so it cant meet the needs of the paddy during the
growing season but can help save the plant when it is half dry in growing
season and then before the drought. We also can manage another irrigation
system to increase rice productivity.

d.

Building partnerships with insurance services such as PT Jasindo or BRI to

create agricultural insurance. Agricultural insurance is intended to help
farmers when the crop failure due to natural disasters such as exposed to
floods, landslides, and eruptions. This can help farmers rebuild agricultural
land at least for capital replant.The agricultural insurance can be made as

e.

institutional or family-based cooperation for the common good.

Create creative economy jobs outside agriculture field when productive land
area is smaller than the number of existing agricultural workers. The presence
of other jobs for the rural community will make land area managed by
sufficient number of farmers with effective and efficient because if workers is
more than needed in the land area, it will multiply the employee wages and
profit sharing.The consequence with many workers is laziness to farm and
unsatisfying result, but when the farm is managed effectively and efficiently,
the profits of the farm will be significant which arouse the passion to build
farms. On the other hand the people who not working on farm would still

f.

have a job and income.

Ask for the role of government through counseling to maximize its role in
coaching and mentoring agricultural activities and introduce technology that
can improve agricultural productivity, especially technologies in increasing
rice production. So that farmers are open to innovative new technologies to

g.

build the farm.

I want to set up a Sekolah Tani Lintas Generasi (All Generation Farmer
School) in an area. This school is school-based on work in paddy field for all
generations ,both parents, male or female and young children. Moreover, I
would like to introduced children about the farm early to find out that farm

h.

was fun and we should be proud of the farm.

In my opinion, pride about agricultural sector in important because I felt
theres decreasing of acknowledging when someone work in farm even shame
to become farmers, including young people in formal educational
environments. This becomes particularly worrisome when agriculture will
slowly left behind by next generations when food demand is always
increasing. We need prepare the generation that understand the importance of

developing the agricultural . In this visionary school I would like to include

practices every day ,supported by theory and evaluation on afternoon and
evening so that there are always improvements for the next day in learning
4.

activities.
How would you use the Youth Ag-Summit to address and advance these
issues/solutions?
In this youth Ag-Summit conference, as an agent of change, I want to talk
and share ideas to improve the productivity of rice as the main commodities in
Indonesia. On this event, I hope will be a lot of inspiration and experience as well
as other ideas that I can apply in developing the nation's, especially in agriculture
sector. And after of this forum, I hope to realize the idea for advancement in
farmers. On this lovely occasion I would like to say that we need to realize that
young people can be agents of change that should not remain silent but keep try to
resolve the problems step by step for the creation of food sovereignty and improve
the nation.