https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8834-0708
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Abstract
During colonial government, large plantations in Indonesia used indigenous peasants as unskilled laborers. In 19th century, the government began to pay attention to empower indigenous peasants by the establishment of agricultural extension service. One important thing was how the success of agricultural extension program can sustain the Indonesian economy that occurred after the Second World War. However, very little writing in detail about the history of empowerment activities conducted in agricultural extension. Therefore, this paper is expected to fill the vacant historiography. It is intended to analyze the birth of agricultural extension and the efforts made by the agricultural extension services to empower indigenous peasants. By using the history method, the sources used in this study were colonial archives, journals, or magazines published in the period 1900–1945. The findings indicated that through the agricultural extension services, the government provided guidance to indigenous peasants in the form of providing superior seeds, as well as guidance in the use of technology and agricultural economics. In 1894 the export value of indigenous agricultural products was only 11%, however in 1937 it increased significantly to 45.8%, indicating that indigenous agriculture can support the economy of the colonial when facing the crisis. This means that indigenous peasants can be empowered through agricultural extension services. The success of extension model carried out in the colonial period which empower peasants to became independent and had a better quality of life, was adopted continously until Indonesia became independent.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 ‘Studien over het Javaansch Grondbezit’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie (Citation1881), Vol. 3, p. 81.
2 According to Fasseur, the period between 1850–1860 colonial government profits with forced planting systems produced an average of 24 million guilders. See C. Fasseur, Kultuurstelsel en Colonial Baten (Leiden, Citation1975).
3 Sutomo was Sutomo was the founder of Budi Utomo, the first modern Indonesian movement organization.
4 See ‘Dorpsonderzoeksrapport in het Districk Malang in 1928’, Mailroporten. 2411x/1929; Onghokham uses the term sikep and numpang. Sikep is a person who owns land and a house, and numpang is a person who does not own land and a house so that they live in a crib on the path that becomes his path. Onghokham, Madiun dalam Kemelut Sejarah: Priyayi dan Petani di Karesidenan Madiun Abad XIX (Jakarta, 2018), ina. 157–159.
5 Geertz’s opinion has been widely refuted, among others by Elson, Knight, Robinson, and Gordon.
6 See Van Vleuten, ‘De Invloed van Heerendiensten en Hoofden op het Grondbezit’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie, vol. 1 (1872), 294–299.
7 Cultivation systems according to van Niel have inherited three main things that have an impact on the development of the agricultural economy in the following period, namely the formation of capital, cheap labor, and changes in the rural economy. See Robert van Niel, Sistem Tanam Paksa di Jawa, (Jakarta, 2003), ina. p. 277.
8 ‘Bab pekerdjaan kaoem tani’, Sinar Tani, vol 1 (4), 1926.
9 ‘Cursus-landbouw dea di Bondowoso’, Sinar Tani, vol 1 (5), (1926).
10 Sinar Tani (2001).
11 See A.J. Koen, ‘De landbouwvoorlichtingendeienst de aanstande bertuursreorganisatie’, Landbouw Tijdschrijft Vereeniging an Landbouw Consulenten in Nederlansch Indie (1925–1926) volume 1. Some authors call agricultural institutions established since 1910, see Sinar Tani, (2001); Harijati & N. Huda, Fundamentals of agricultural extension (Jakarta, 2005); Mardikanto, Extension of Agricultural Development (Jakarta, 2009); Ge Prince, ‘Economic policy in Indonesia’, J. Thomas Lindblad (Ed), New Challenges in the Modern Economic History of Indonesia (Leiden,1993), 172; Meanwhile, there are also authors who say that agricultural extension in Indonesia was established at the same time as the establishment of the Extension Department in 1905, see Abas, 90 Penyluhan Pertanian di Indonesia 1905–1995 (Jakarta, 1995); while the Ministry of Agriculture itself stated that agricultural extension institutions were established in 1908. See, BPLPP, 70 Penyuluhan Pertanian di Indonesia (Jakarta, 1978).
12 ‘Landbouw en irrigatie’, Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, 22 Nov 1922.
13 See ‘Landbouw voorlichtings’, Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch Indie, 16 June 1938.
14 Regeerings Almanak voor Nederlandsch Indie, Citation1905.
15 ‘Reports on the debates in the Dutch Parliament regarding the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture were published’, Bataviaach Nieuwsblad 4 Mart 1904; The Soerabajasch Handelsblad 18 and 23 Mart; 6, 11, 18, 22, 28 July; 3 Augt 1904.
16 Regeerings almanak voor Nederlandsch-Indie, 1926, p. 319.
17 ‘De landbouw voorlichtingsdienst’, De Indische Courant, 21 Mart 1935.
18 Regeerings almanak voor Nederlandsch-Indie, 1926, p. 319.
19 See ‘Voorlichting en kleine landbouw’, Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, 27 Jully, 1941.
20 See ‘De landbouw voorlichtingsdienst’, De Indische Courant, 21 Mart, 1935.
21 Jaarverslag Landbouwvoorlichtingsdien, 1928.
22 See also ‘Congres Landbouw Voorlichtingsdienst’, Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch Indie, 15 Oct 1930; ‘Economische Voorlichting’, Soerabajasch Handelsbad, 1 June 1931, p. 1.
23 Jaarverslag van den Landbouw Voorlichtings Dienst Over 1925, 1926.
24 ‘Landbouw Voorlichting’, De Indische Courant, 17 December 1936.
25 Sinar Tani, vol. 1 (1), 1926.
26 Jaar Verslag van Landbouwvoorlichtingsdient 1927, 1928.
27 ‘De landbouw voorlichtingdienst’, De Sumatra Post, 24 December, 1923.
28 ‘Jaarverslag van den Landbouw Voorlichtingsdienst over 1925’, Het Nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch Indie, 7 May 1927. P. 1.
29 See G.H.H. Snell, ‘Memorie van Overgave Resident Pasuruan 20 July 1930’, Mailraporten No. 149/30.
30 ‘Onze landbouw voorlichtingdienst’, De indische Courant, 17 April 1941.
31 ‘Jaarverslag van den Landbouw Voorlichtingsdienst Over 1925’, Het Nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch Indie, 7 May 1927, p. 1.
32 ‘Onze landbouw voorlichtingdienst’, De indische Courant, 17 April 1941.
33 J.P.H. Fessevier, ‘Memorie van Overgave Resident Besuki’, 1 August Citation1922.
34 A.H. Neys, ‘Memorie van Overgave Resident Bondowoso’, 25 July 1929, Mailraporten no. 2527/29.
35 ‘Onze landbouw voorlichtingdienst’, De indische Courant, 17 April 1941.
36 The description of irrigation canals in Indonesia in the 1930s can be seen in J. Stroomberg, Citation2018, Op. Cit. p. 226–235.
37 ‘Het werk van economische zaken’, De Indische Courant, 4 July 1936.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Effendi Wahyono
Professor Dr. Effendi Wahyono, M. Hum was born in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia. He is a lecturer at the Archival Study Program, Faculty of Law, Social and Political Sciences, Indonesia Open University. Previously he was a lecturer in the Sociology Department at the same faculty and university. He studied history from undergraduate to doctoral programs at the University of Indonesia. He wrote a Doctoral Dissertation on the Decentralization of the Dutch East Indies in 1903 and Government Reform based on the Bestuurshervormingswet 1922, which was completed in May 2009.
Nurul Huda
Dr. Ir. Nurul Huda, M.A., was born in Jakarta July 29, 1963. She received her Bachelor degree from the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) with a TIDK Department of Education and Culture scholarship in 1985; Furthermore, she obtained a Master of Arts degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Victoria, Canada, in 1994 with a CIDA scholarship. Doctoral degree in Development Extension Science, obtained from the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) in 2010 with a BPPS Scholarship. She wrote a Doctoral Dissertation on Agricultural Extension Competencies.