The Perception and Interest of Career Choices in Agriculture: Case of Agroecotechnology and Agribusiness Students
2. Theoretical Underpinning 1. Perception
4.3. The Students' Perception in Agriculture 1. The Agricultural Sector is Vigorously
4.3.7. Agriculture is Identical With a Low- Level Education
Based on the results of research on 102 students of Agriculture Universitas Brawijaya showed that fifty percent of participants agreed
that agricultural land was still managed by a low- educated workforce:
Figure 14. Male's perception
Figure 15. Female's perception
Currently, the agricultural sector is still dominated by farmers who have low education and are old. Based on data from the 2013 Indonesian Agricultural Census, it is explained that farmers have an average age of over 45 years with a percentage of 61.8%, followed by 12.2% of farmers under 35 years. Based on the level of education, BPS data (2013) states that primary and secondary education levels currently dominate farmers' education. Seven hundred sixty-six thousand nine hundred fifty-six people, or about 9.65% of farmers, have never received an education. Ten million three hundred fifty-eight seven hundred fifty-four farmers have education not yet graduated from elementary school or around 26.54%. Farmers who have an education level as a college graduate or diploma program are only around 0.57%.
Santoso et al. (2020) revealed that 54% of children of horticultural farmers do not want to become farmers, followed by 63% of lowland rice farmers who are reluctant to work in agriculture.
These resulted in the low regeneration of agriculture, and the level of activity of the younger generation in agricultural development is
7%
20%
20% 25%
28%
Agriculture is identical with a low level of education
Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Agree Disagree Unsure 20%
5%
37%
13%
25%
Male Perception on Agriculture Requires a Hight Level of Work Skills
Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Agree Disagree Unsure
18%2%
52%
6%22%
Female's Perception on Agriculture Requires a Hight Level of Work
Skills Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree Agree Disagree Unsure
7%
20%
20% 25%
28%
Agriculture is identical with a low level of education
Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree Agree Disagree Unsure
Available online at HABITAT website: http://www.habitat.ub.ac.id decreasing. The activeness of the younger
generation in agricultural development is only 31% for those aged 18-24 years and 25% for those aged 25-35 years. That is reinforced by Putrayasa et al. (2021), who prove that the increasing level of education of the younger generation whose competence is not in agriculture, becomes one of the threats to the sustainability of farming. The younger generation thinks farming is tiring and more suitable for elderly farmers.
Overall, this study indicates that the parents, lecturers, and peers' support positively affect the youth's perceptions to continue working in the agricultural sector. According to Sawitri et al. (2014), the engagement of parents and other family members substantially affects youth career decision-making. Furthermore, parents' work backgrounds influence youth decisions when pursuing career aspirations. It is reported by Suprayogi et al. (2019) that parents' occupation affects career choice because students from agricultural backgrounds prefer to follow their parents' occupations. In contrast, when parents cannot play such a role, Cheung et al. (2013) explore another significant role, namely the teacher, in influencing youth career choices. They found that children in Hong Kong valued teachers' encouragement or motivation more than their parents due to their parents' low level of education.
The data results depicted that nearly half of the respondents still think that agricultural work is a low-status job since it is still dominated by low- educated farmers and requires qualified and labor- intensive agricultural skills. In contrast to female respondents who are unsure about agricultural labor's future, most male respondents believe that working in agriculture is quite promising. This study demonstrates that men have predominantly favorable perceptions of agricultural jobs.
Figure 16. Future Prospects in Agricultural Development
In this survey, a large percentage of respondents were amenable to the concept of a work experience program in agriculture. Hamill (2012) corroborates that work experience programs are a vital step in boosting students' interest in farming careers and compelling positive agricultural perspectives (Foster and Savala, 2012).
The framework pictured above shows many things we must do to develop agriculture in the future. The welfare of farmers and their families is the main goal that becomes a priority.
Development is the creation of a better system and value system so that there is justice and a high level of welfare. In addition, it must be directed to create a prosperous society, especially farmers, by developing a solid and well-established agricultural system and business where the system must be competitive, democratic, sustainable, and decentralized. The real hope is aimed at the government and the young generation, known as millennial farmers, which is expected to be an essential milestone in contributing to the future.
The active role, contribution, interest, and perception of Indonesian agricultural students are urgently needed to answer these challenges in the future. The main goal is to realize a more advanced Indonesian agriculture and improve the welfare of the Indonesian people.
5. Conclusions
Personal and environmental factors that influence agricultural students in choosing agriculture as a future career choice include support from lecturers, parents, colleagues, internship/work experience in agriculture, and employment trends in agricultural activities. The majority of male and female participants stated that these aspects were influential and supported their future careers in agriculture.
The preponderance of the perceptions of the agricultural students of the Agroecotechnology and Agribusiness Study Program agreed that intensive promotion is carried out for the younger generation, and advanced and innovative promotional language influences their career choices in agriculture. Although almost half of the participants believe that income in agriculture is relatively low, they think it is a promising industry. On the other hand, one-third of the participants felt that career opportunities in agriculture were limited due to the lack of knowledge of the jobs offered. The rest, fifty percent of participants, stated that agriculture
The Role of Young Generation to work and contribute in Agricultural Sector
Problem and Challenges in the Future Agriculture
Agricultural Development and
Improving Community
Welfare
Available online at HABITAT website: http://www.habitat.ub.ac.id requires high agricultural skills, so they felt that
agricultural work should be carried out by experienced farmers who are, on average old and usually have low education.
As an educated young generation, Agricultural students must contribute and become agents of change to maximize their potential within themselves through developing ideas in agriculture. Sustainable agriculture, food security, and job prospects allow young farmers to increase their profitability toward food self-sufficiency in Indonesia. The data supporting internal factors and perceptions of agricultural students to continue their careers in agriculture is gradually optimistic. It is suggested that they can prepare themselves to become qualified and competent human resources in agriculture by linearizing their education and work in the future.
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