Bekasi Regency - The Bekasi Regency Government, West Java, is committed to creating economic independence for the entire community in order to improve people's welfare based on the slogan Rise, Advance and Prosper.
Bekasi Deputy Regent Asep Surya Atmaja said that the implementation of the realization of community economic independence was considered capable of answering the problem of unemployment and poverty in the region.
"3.2 million people in Bekasi Regency and the workforce is 2.2 million. Today 1.5 million are working, meaning there are 700 thousand who are not working. That is our homework that must be completed immediately," he said in Cikarang, Tuesday.
He said that the regional government is currently trying a number of concrete steps through an approach to community economic independence to reduce poverty and unemployment rates, especially since there has been widespread information regarding layoffs experienced by company workers recently.
The first effort is to utilize President Prabowo Subianto's policy regarding free nutritious meals (MBG) as one of the community economic empowerment programs through cross-sector cooperation.
"It can be done by forming MSMEs for young people who cannot work, financed by BUMDes or processing paddy into rice, sold to MBG program providers," he said.
His party also encouraged the young generation who are not yet working to have the desire to advance the agricultural sector in order to realize food self-sufficiency while maintaining regional food security.
The local government plans to build satellite wells and solar-powered wells to supply the needs of rice fields affected by drought in village areas.
"So, we think that later the rice fields that previously failed to harvest, especially in the northern region, can harvest up to three times a year. There is nothing wrong with young people becoming farmers," he said.
He also invited micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to develop their businesses so that they can create new job vacancies in the community, including strengthening the home industry sector.