GP Ansor hopes NU Congress to generate solutions for agricultural development

Bandarlampung, NU Online

Chairman of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Division, the Central Board of the Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor), H Hadi M. Musa Said hoped that the NU 34th Congress in Lampung would produce special recommendations regarding economic development in the agricultural sector.

"Indeed, this is a tough and very serious task, hopefully the results of the NU 34th Congress in Lampung will produce special recommendations regarding economic development in the agricultural sector," he told NU Online here Tuesday (21/12/2021).

The recommendations and real steps, according to him, will be very meaningful for the future of NU members (Nahdliyin) in whicj more than 70 percent of whom are farmers.

"That's important, because most of the farmers live in rural areas and every day they go to the fields, gardens, rice fields to maintain the national food availability," said the man who is familiarly called Haji Abang.

So, he continued, one of the work orientations for economic empowerment of Nahdliyin should be strengthened by increasing education and training in the agricultural sector, especially for santri in various Islamic boarding schools in the archipelago.

"Empowerment of millennial farmer santri must continue to be carried out simultaneously with various assistance steps through counseling in Islamic boarding schools," explained the leader of the Bumi Nusantara Islamic Boarding School, Cipulus, Purwakarta.

Another thing, which is no less important for him, is that NU must be at the forefront to defend the peasants so that their welfare could be achieved.

“Yes, generally the welfare for farmers in Indonesia, especially the ones from the nahdliyin," he said.

He emphasized that it became even more important when referring to the explanation of NU Founder Hadrastussykh KH Hasyim Asy'ari which reads that agriculture does not stand alone but is part of the progress and order of a nation.

"He (KH Hasyim Asy'ari) quoted many explanations by using references from the Qur'an, hadith, and classical books, which emphasized the importance of agricultural sector management in Islamic teachings," explained Haji Abang.

He explained that there were many verses of the Qur'an that explain agricultural studies, especially from the perspective of fiqh. Sheikh Thanthowi Jauhari, a modern commentator from Egypt, for example, elaborates it comprehensively in his commentary book Al-Jawahir fi Al-Qur'an Al-Karim. In the book it is stated that there are about 750 verses in the Qur'an that discuss agriculture.

"The elaboration feels more comprehensive when it is added by the 150 verses in the Qur'an that discuss agricultural jurisprudence (Fuadi and Ali, 2016)," he explained.

He continued, NU had a big responsibility to jointly carry out the jihad of food sovereignty through empowering farmers. Therefore, efforts to regenerate farmers by preparing excellent and quality farmer human resources must continue to be carried out.

"So there is no reason for NU members to remain silent and not participate in mobilizing jihad in developing, continuing, and advancing the national agricultural sector. What a loss for this country if we don't want to see this as a huge potential and opportunity to advance the nation," he said.
 

Contributor: Syifa Arrahmah

Editor: Sudarto Murtaufiq