Youth and Agriculture in Indonesia

This chapter reflects on the changing place of young men and women in Indonesian agriculture, based on available secondary sources and some preliminary local-level studies. Contrary to general perceptions or expectations about youth, agriculture still employs a much higher proportion of young people than industry or any other sector, and this proportion has been relatively stable in recent years. The chapter first provides a general picture of agrarian structures in Indonesia. The next section summarizes what we know about the changing position of young men and women within these structures, including: the age and gender of farmers, modes of intergenerational transfer of farm land and property, young people’s apparent turn away from agriculture, patterns of rural youth mobility, agricultural education, and institutions representing rural youth interests. The main part of this chapter concludes with some reflections on policy. The final part then explains the selection of locations and the basic shared methodology for the three local case-study chapters that follow.