Analysis of the Impact and Labor Absorption of the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Support Services (YESS) Program on the Business Activity of the Agricultural Sector in Banjar Regency South Kalimantan Province

The crisis of young farmers in the agricultural sector and the dominance of old farmers has consequences for the development of the sustainable agricultural sector, especially on agricultural productivity, market competitiveness, rural economic capacity, and further it will threaten food security and the sustainability of the agricultural sector, one of the government’s efforts to overcome this problem, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) implements the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Development Program in the Agriculture sector through the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Support Services (YESS) program. This program is a pilot for the regeneration of farmers in rural areas through the provision of facilities and guidance to the younger generation (men and women) to become entrepreneurs or professional workers in the agricultural sector. One of the activities of the YESS Program is competitive fund grants in the form of business capital assistance to agricultural business actors. Banjar Regency is the district with YESS participants as well as the largest number of participants receiving competitive grants in 2021. This study aims to analyze the impact of the YESS program on agricultural business activities in Banjar Regency and analyze the absorption of labor in the agricultural sector that participates in the YESS program in Banjar Regency. The research uses primary and secondary data. Primary data was taken from interviews with the help of questionnaires to participants in Banjar Regency who received competitive grants in 2021 as many as 29 people. Secondary data was taken from SMK PP Negeri Banjarbaru and other related Agencies/Agencies. The analysis used in this study is by testing wilcoxon on indicators of production costs, revenues and profits, and descriptive analysis methods on indicators of business scale, business diversification and labor absorption in the agricultural sector. The results of the study show that the YESS Program has an impact on increasing the number of agricultural businesses in Banjar Regency on the parameters of production costs, revenues, profits, business scale, and business and labor diversification that were able to be absorbed by 29 participants of the YESS Program after receiving the benefits of competitive grants in Banjar Regency of 5,697.69 HOK.