Agriculture sector catches Indonesian workforce amid falling job market

A farmer plows rice fields using two buffaloes on agricultural land near a rest area of the Bawean-Salatiga toll road in Central Java on Nov. 2, 2020. Ahead of the rainy season, farmers have begun preparing for the next crop of rice. - JP

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): Business owner-turned-farmer Ijon Purba, 33, closed his small coffee shop in Medan, North Sumatra, early last year to plow the earth of his hometown, Liang Pematang village, in neighbouring Deli Serdang regency, amid the pandemic.

Medan’s mobility restrictions prevented customers from visiting his one-year-old shop, forcing him back to his village, where he has been farming coffee beans and shallots on less than half a hectare of land to make ends meet for his family.