Present conditions are different from those in the 1970s when the government could facilitate the transmigration of three to four hundred thousand villagers in a year.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - It is not easy to ask people to transmigrate now because there are many jobs available in Java, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

This, he added, was leading to decreasing availability of land in the region.

"Now, it is difficult to encourage villagers to transmigrate. While there are many jobs available in Java now, that of land in this region is becoming increasingly limited," Kalla stated while addressing the Transmigration Award 2014 function here on Monday.

As a result, the number of people joining transmigration programs now is no longer as significant as that in the past. Present conditions are different from those in the 1970s when the government could facilitate the transmigration of three to four hundred thousand villagers in a year.

The vice president added that self-reliant transmigration was developing nowadays in line with the development of plantations in the country.

"That is why the problem of transmigration today must be resolved with different approaches from those in the 1970s," Kalla noted.

He also pointed out that the government needed to provide training and capacity building for self-reliant trans-migrants, which should be provided with packages of new policies.

"It is very important to eliminate poverty in villages through transmigration and overseas migrant worker programs because poverty is widespread in villages with agricultural areas. Now, each family in villages has only some one-third of a hectare of land. It is impossible for a family of five, for example, to earn a living with that," he remarked.

Therefore, he stressed, more employment must be created for them.

"We appreciate both regions---the origin and the destination. The media, which promotes transmigration and is able to attract peoples interest towards it, will also be given awards," Kalla affirmed.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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