TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has promised an income of around Rp 10-20 million per month for students who participate in the food self-sufficiency brigade program, or food brigade. He hopes the students will be comfortable with this large income.

"Students are comfortable working in the field because they make more than Rp10 million," Amran said at the Food Brigade Assistance Management Workshop at the ministry's office.

This income, Amran explained, is not a monthly salary or wage. The income comes from sharing profits after the sales of farm produce. Under the scheme, students are assigned to work on agricultural land. "The income is at least ten million a month. (But) later they will not receive this per month, right? Just like entrepreneurs. After the harvest, the income is divided 70-30. Seventy for (the students) who manage (the land), and 30 percent for those who own the land," he said. 

Amran explained that in this program, students will be divided into groups of 15. Each brigade will be responsible for managing 200 hectares of agricultural land in a structured and integrated manner. "The system is that each brigade consists of 15 people (students) who manage 200 hectares (of land)," he said.

Idha Widi Arsanti, head of the Agricultural Extension and Human Resource Development Agency (BPPSDMP), said the students must produce at least 3.5 to 5 tons of agricultural products when managing the agricultural land. So with a harvest of this size, if multiplied by the cost of goods sold (HPP), then subtracted from the profit sharing with the land owner. "We have calculated that each of the 15 people in (each) brigade will later get at least Rp10 million," Idha said on the same occasion.

For the initial phase, the Ministry of Agriculture is targeting 20,000 students to participate in the program. Currently, Amran said, registration has concluded and 23,000 students have registered for this program.

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