Back in Indonesia There is anecdote about the abbreviation of my previous university name, IPB (Institute Pertanian Bogor/ Bogor Agricultural University. People make fun of it, as acronym of Institut Pleksibel Banget (Institute of PlexiBility (ed. Flexibility) or Institute of Pinance (ed. Finance) and Banking. This happens because IPB is supposed to be an AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY but in fact, it is relatively few of its graduates who work in agricultural sector. Most work in bank, some other became journalist, or whatever it can be, except in agricultural realm. Nothing wrong with that, of course everyone can work whatever they want, but isn’t it quite contradictive? Ha..
I salute my friends who keep on agricultural track (which is very few). It always makes me happy when I look at their post in social media about their works. Some are doing farm entrepreneurship, some invent new products. They really ‘touch the soil’. It is superb. When most people in Indonesia think, it is not cool to be farmer, they can prove that it can be possible to be cool and to be a farmer in the same time.
In the past, Indonesia is known as agricultural country (or may be still). Mostly works in agricultural sector and it is reflected in the culture. In every tribe we have many rituals, ceremony, and procession and festivals that related to agriculture. For example, Bahau and Modang Dayak tribe in Kalimantan has a ritual for preparing a growing season. In this ritual, they tried to communicate with the God and ancestor for success farming process and harvest trough HUDOQ dance. In West Java there is Seren Taun, in Aceh there is Khanduri Blang, and many others in each province. So it is so sad, if now, we lost our interest in agricultural sector. Agriculture has been our soul for long times and it is very essential because it is about food, and food means life.
My sister and I are both studied in IPB. Sometimes we talk about this and feel little guilty. So one day, we came up with a dream to have and manage a nursery. It is still not happen yet, but yeah… it is a dream, and everything will start from a dream, right? Ha..
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