Making Do on Small Plots of Land

The failure of structural transformation has exacerbated disparity in Indonesia. Abandoning the agricultural sector, farmers are leaving for cities to work in the informal sector. The inequality in land ownership is severe. Small-scale farmers work on less than half a hectare of land, and some 13.57 million farmers do not even own farmland.

March 21, 2017

Scores of men were stretched out along the sidewalk on the flyover above the Jagorawi toll road. Not far from the Jambore Camping Area in Cibubur, East Jakarta, last week, they sat on old plastic banners. Some slept with sarongs covering half of their bodies and faces. Hoes and shovels were lined up next to them.

Those men can be found there morning, noon, and night. "Yes, we sit waiting for trucks to pass and give us work," Yusuf, one of the men,

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