Digital Farming Can Turn Agriculture into an Interesting Business

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - Indonesia faces the problem of slow farmer regeneration due to lack of interest of young generation in agriculture. Currently there are about 61% of Indonesian farmers aged over 45 years.

Engaging youth in agriculture becomes a priority if we are to achieve national food security. The topic was raised in the Go-Young Farmers talkshow which is part of The Jakarta Food Security Summit 2018 event organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN).

IPB lecturer Bayu Krisnamurthi said Indonesia will experience a demographic bonus period, in which the number of productive people is higher than the number of elderly and children.

"This is an opportunity for us to introduce agriculture to the younger generation, otherwise agriculture will suffer from a lack of human resources and it will be difficult for us to achieve national food security," said Bayu at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The younger generation is key, and modern agriculture is a solution to attract young people to engage in the agricultural business. Digital farming is one of the tools of modern agriculture that can turn agriculture into an exciting business.

Present as a panelist at the event were IPB Lecturer Bayu Krisnamurthi, Best Young Farmer 2016 Adi Pramudya, and Jens Hartmann, Head of Region APAC 1 Crop Science Division Bayer, where they agreed that Indonesia should increase the appeal of the profession in agriculture in order to young people engaged in agriculture, one of them through the modernization of agriculture.