Turning point the concept of rural development in Indonesia from top-down to bottom-up strategy

Abstract

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 followed by political turmoil in 1998 has not given a significant change to agriculture and rural development in Indonesia. Throughout history, Indonesia has implemented the development of the agriculture sector under a top-down strategy. The success of this approach is marked by the achievement of rice self-sufficiency in 1984. Moreover, since the mid 1990s, Indonesia has embarked on various economic reforms that led to globalization. The Indonesian economy has become more integrated into the global economy and world market. Unfortunately, these changes were not translated properly to rural areas as there were no transition time for rural communities to adjust their economic condition to these changes. The multiplier effect that was expected as a consequence of globalization within rural economic systems was faced with difficulties such as paternalistic structure led by the elites. As a result, rural areas experienced with income gap, weak agriculture development, corruption, social problems and poverty. Meta-analysis approach is used to examine the approach that has been used in implementing program and projects. Findings from the articles showed that there is a need to do the re-orientation to the approach and increased the independency at the farmer level. The idea to develop national agriculture and rural development strategies that is based on a bottom-up approach, followed by an agrarian reform, as well as the formation of social capital and redefinition of local autonomy are the recommendation that high level decision maker could consider.