Abstract:

Rural youth are the future food sovereignty of a nation since they are the successor of family farming business, who occupied 80 percent of the world's food production. Unfortunately, many that youth prefer to go to the cities and escape from the agriculture. Data shows only 3 percent of farmer's children in Central Java are eventually become a farmer. Up to date, agriculture has been populated by the old farmer with an average of 52 years old. Indeed, agriculture always requires innovation to deal with rapid changes in the rural. In this concern, youth will be the principal actor to adopt those changes. This study aims to map the issues of food agriculture that cause the young people to abandon agriculture and to formulate policy alternatives in preventing farmer regeneration crisis. The data obtained through in-depth interviews with 150 households in 3 rice-growing villages (Sragen, Klaten, Sukoharjo) and seven young farmers from Yogyakarta, Salatiga, and Garut. The study reveals that the rural youth face many hurdles to earn a livelihood in agriculture. Lack of land access, income uncertainty, and dependence on chemical fertilizers have become the primary sources of the problem that causes agriculture unattractive for the youth. Some policy strategies have been offered to engage youth in agriculture such as the provision of communal land access for young to do organic farming, involve local communities to transfer agricultural knowledge, upgrade technological youth skills to access broader markets, expand the entrepreneurship program in rural, provide farmer incentives in the form of financial assistance as well.