Bali -
Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) officially opened the Global Forum to begin series of the G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting (AMM) events, at the InterContinental Jimbaran Hotel, Bali on Tuesday (27/09/2022). Raising the theme "Digital Agriculture Transformation in Accelerating Women and Youth Entrepreneurship", SYL called for digital technologies transformation acceleration in the agriculture sector.
"Technology and digitalization play pivotal roles to advancing global agriculture. Nowadays, Indonesia is moving forward to achieve an advanced, independent, and modern agriculture. Today is a great opportunity for us to share perspectives on our efforts in improving women and youth capacities in digital agriculture implementation," stated SYL in his opening remarks.
According to SYL, young entrepreneurs as producers, distributors, marketers, and sellers, can become innovative entrepreneurs by using technology to create more innovative business models.
"In the era of industrial revolution 4.0, the agriculture sector is shifting from relying on manual labor to digitalization and mechanization, including smart farming," he explained.
Women and youth entrepreneurship in agricultural development has become central attention in many countries, including G20 members. These countries, Indonesia as well, have put a lot of effort into understanding the character traits of young entrepreneurs, providing conducive and supportive environment, and identifying most appropriate method to develop their talents.
Therefore, SYL asked G20 members to strengthen their spirit of solidarity, in line with the main theme of the Indonesian G20 Presidency, "Recover Together, Recover Stronger".
"We are not speaking for ourselves anymore. We are speaking on behalf of the G20 member. Let us focus on things that bring us together. We must quickly unite despite our differences," he said.
SYL also mentioned that Indonesia stands ready to enhance collaborations with other countries, especially in facing global food crisis.
"We need each other. The AMM Forum is an opportunity for us to remove barriers to safeguard global supply chain," he stated.
Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Dr. Qu Dongyu conveyed FAO's supports in promoting partnerships among countries. In his keynote speech, Qu said that commitment is crucial to creating better global agriculture, so we have to work efficiently, effectively, and innovatively.
"The future is digital. Our agriculture is undergoing a shift," he stated.
Qu reaffirmed his support for Indonesia's efforts in developing national e-agriculture strategies, which includes data integration manual in geospatial data usage.
"Digitalization plays an important role in accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, by diversifying incomes and unlocking on-farm and off-farm employment and business opportunities, especially for the new generation of farmers and young people," he explained.
Qu also commended the establishment of the Agriculture War Room in the Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia, that utilized high-end digital technologies to support data and evidence-based decision-making.
The DG of Indonesian Agency of Agricultural Extension and Human Resource Development (BPPSDMP) Dedi Nursyamsi as the responsible official of the Global Forum explained that youth participation in the agriculture sector plays a significant role in transforming rural agriculture into a more productive and attractive sector.
"We are working to better understand the character traits of youth, including women, in creating a conducive work environment, and to identifying the best method to improve their capacities in farming," he said.
Dedi mentioned that the IAAEHRD, MoA, optimize the Global Forum as a platform to exchange of policies, training programs, and strategies in digital agriculture transformation to accelerate women and youth entrepreneurship.
The ministers of agriculture of Turkiye and Canada as well as or representatives of USA, Italy, and South Africa, delivered short statements at the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue of the Global Forum, which then followed by two panel discussions. The speakers for the first session were IFAD, CGIAR, GIZ, and MAFF - Japan, and then followed by a few start-ups and global companies, namely PT Bali Organik Subak from Indonesia, Pinduoduo from China, AgUnity from Australia, and Microsoft Indonesia in the second session.
