Integrated Regional Agro-Industry Based Border Area Development in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is a very large archipelago country which has many border areas with its neighbouring countries. The development of these border areas has lagged behind when compared with other parts of the country. Most of the areas are relatively remote, with no access to markets and limited social and economic facilities. However, they have abundant natural resources (land, forest, mines), social capital (culture, local wisdom), and strategic position (tourism and cross-border trading). To foster development of these regions, special approaches, strategies, and methods are needed. It is necessary to consider the advantage of an integrated regional development strategy based on agro-industry to rationally use resources, optimize and improve local community prosperity, and foster regional economic growth. This paper discusses the advantage of this concept and finishes with some conclusions which underline the strategic approach for necessary border area development.

Keywords: agro-industry, border area, integrated plan, regional development, Indonesia