Antara News·Indonesia·Monday, November 2, 2026 at 11:31 AM UTC

Stronger village human resources key to accelerating rural development

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Ananto, Azis Kurmala

Malang, Jawa Timur (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions Ahmad Riza Patria emphasized that strengthening human resource capacity in villages was essential to accelerating rural development.

Speaking after opening the 2026 Indonesia Village Expo (Indovex) in Batu, East Java, on Monday, he said better-qualified human resources would enable villages to further explore and develop their potential.

"Village communities must prepare themselves to ensure that their villages' leading products can be exported. This will accelerate village development, economic growth, and public welfare," Riza said.

He noted that villages across Indonesia had abundant potential to improve community welfare, ranging from agriculture, plantations, fisheries, and forest products to the creative economy.

However, maximizing these resources required greater knowledge and skills in accessing markets, not only at the national level but also internationally, he added.

"We need to foster better conduct among village communities, encouraging them to be orderly, disciplined, adhere to high standards, and develop a more professional work ethic," he said.

Riza said Indovex 2026 offered an opportunity that village-based businesses should fully utilize to build networks and strengthen the promotion of local potential.

"This is the first Indonesia Village Expo, and Batu was selected as the host city. The event showcases products from village-owned enterprises (BUMDes), micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and village cooperatives, particularly those from Batu and East Java," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the East Java Community and Village Empowerment Agency (DPMD) Budi Sarwoto said strengthening the village economy remained one of the East Java provincial government's priorities.

One of the initiatives was the provision of more than Rp85 billion in capital assistance to 1,001 village-owned enterprises, he said.

Another initiative involved designating 313 villages as export-oriented villages, known as Desa Devisa, through collaboration among the provincial Community and Village Empowerment Agency, Industry and Trade Agency, and Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Agency.

He added that the number of self-reliant villages in East Java had also continued to increase over the years.

Data from the East Java Organizational Bureau's website showed that the province had 4,716 self-reliant villages out of a total of 7,721 villages in 2025. The figure represented a 17.34 percent increase from 4,019 villages in 2024.

East Java accounted for 23 percent of the 20,503 self-reliant villages recorded nationwide.

"This effort must continue through collaboration with relevant stakeholders to narrow the economic and poverty gap between urban and rural communities," Sarwoto said.

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