Agriculture Becomes Hope in Maintaining Village Economic Stability during the Pandemic Period
The pandemic has not only affected economic conditions in urban areas but also in rural areas. The form of impact that appears in the village is a decrease in purchasing power, increased unemployment, and decreased economic productivity. The burden on the village is getting heavier because many city people return home and lose their jobs. Those are excerpts from Yusuf Murtiono’s description, one of the speakers in the Webinar organized by AKATIGA with FORMASI Kebumen entitled “Covid 19 and the Impact on the Village Economy” (8/5).
Yusuf further explained, “What this village has to do is important, when the village finds out that its food security has decreased, its economic activity has decreased, then many of its residents are unemployed, the village must adopt short-term oriented policies. This means that villages need Village BLT, PKTD-Dinas Karyat Tunai Desa, budgets to prevent village reallocations that are already so heavy for 2020. In my opinion, villages now know the concrete problems so that in 2020 there is an opportunity to be more radical in changing its budget policies”.
Aprilia Ambarwati, speaker from AKATIGA, emphasized the important role of the village government. He said that at the community level the village government can provide support, including through collaboration with BUMDES. Aprilia also stressed that agriculture could be an alternative in dealing with the crisis that hit the village. Strengthening agriculture is very important, especially to ensure that villages have their own food security.
Within the framework of strengthening agriculture, Aprilia also emphasized the importance of encouraging the agricultural sector to be more innovative and economically productive. These innovative agricultural works can be carried out by young people who interact a lot with the latest agricultural knowledge and techniques.
In line with Aprilia, another speaker from FORMASI Kebumen, Fuad Khabib, also emphasized that “The agricultural sector is one of our hopes for maintaining the village economy, especially maintaining stability in conditions in the village”. Fuad said that we cannot only hope for assistance from the government. Therefore it is important for rural communities to build self-sufficiency or build an agricultural-based economic foundation.
Artikel : Acep Muslim
Poster : Santi Cahya Pratiwi
Foto Cover : Rahmad Efendi