If I don’t learn farming now, what will I do in the village?

Uji, 24 years old, is a member of a group of young organic farmers in Cibiru village, Cicantayan Village, Sukabumi. He joined when the program was inaugurated, in early 2019. Before that, Uji had never experienced working in agriculture and had never helped his parents in the fields.

Because it was difficult to find work nearby, he migrated to the city of Bandung. Uji worked in Bandung for four years as an employee at a catering business owned by people from Cibiru village. In 2018 he decided to return to his village because he felt bored working in Bandung.

According to Uji, when he was in Bandung he couldn’t save the wages he earned because he always used up food and following the lifestyle of urban young people in general, such as buying clothes, “hanging out” and buying smartphones.

“When I came home last time in 2018, with Dacon (Juji’s friend) we only had 50 thousand,” said Uji, laughing, remembering that moment.

When he returned to his hometown, he had not found any work. Various applications were made to garment and shoe companies around Sukabumi but none were accepted. A job in a factory is the dream of many young people in Sukabumi.

However, quite a lot of money is needed if you want to secure a seat in the big factories there.  Many “brokers” offer services to get people into factories, the cost can reach IDR 10,000,000 to IDR 20,000,000. In the end, people like Uji do not use the services of brokers because of the high costs and therefore can be easily eliminated in the company’s recruitment process.

Uji then tried to work in a brick making business in his village. However, the work is not commensurate with the wages earned.

“The biggest is only 80 thousand, that’s for around 4,000 bricks, if it’s quiet you can bring no money or the biggest is also 20,000,” said Uji. After quitting as a brick worker, Uji then worked in a bamboo craft business owned by a young man in Cibiru village. That’s where he became acquainted with the Let’s Become Young Farmers program and met one of the researchers from AKATIGA.

According to Uji, his participation was initially just a matter of trial and error and was requested by Pibsa (facilitator of the Let’s Become Young Farmers program in Cicantayan village – owner of a bamboo craft business).

“At first, I thought I could just fill my free time, have other activities besides work,” he said. He did not expect that by participating in the Let’s Become Young Farmers program he would gain so much knowledge and values ​​about agriculture to this day.

Uji, Pibsa, and several other young people in Cibiru also formed a farming community called Ketan Pedo (Organic Young Farmers Group). One thing he remembers is when one of the resource persons from the Let’s Become Young Farmers Program encouraged young people in Cibiru.

The resource person (Mr. Nahum) explained that agriculture is a job that has many benefits if done seriously. Apart from getting economic benefits, farmers can also become food heroes. Without farmers, many people will starve. The country starts with farmers. At least those are the words that often ring in Uji’s mind.

Since being intensively involved in the Let’s Become Young Farmers program, Uji’s view of agriculture as an alternative job has begun to grow. Currently, Uji not only helps group farming activities. He also began to apply the knowledge he gained on his parents’ land. He borrowed his parents’ land and planted it with vegetables.

Caisim currently plants the Uji garden, he has planted around 14 beds. In the future, he plans to see the harvest results from trials on this land. If the results are good and can be used as a source of livelihood, Uji will choose to live in the village and become a farmer.

Even if the results are not big enough, Uji plans to do other side jobs while still growing vegetables. If this trial is not good, at least he will gain very meaningful knowledge for his old age when he returns to the village.

“I realized that in the end when I was old I would return to the village, if I didn’t learn (farming) from now on, what would I do in the village, that’s why I tried planting in my parents’ rice fields. I took the seeds from above (the youth farming group’s land)”.

“Alhamdulillah, now I am planting in 18 beds, I also made a well on the land, learning from the activity that vegetables need enough water,” he said.

In the Let’s Become Young Farmers program, Uji feels that he has gained a lot of knowledge about agriculture, not only about the technical aspects of farming but also how to appreciate agriculture and see farming as a profession, which can overcome the problem of the difficulty of getting work in the non-agricultural sector. On the other hand, he has great optimism about the program to be able to make Pedo’s sticky rice farming into a basis for the growth of organic farming for young people in Sukabumi.