Youth Innovation Challenge 2025 Encourages Young Innovators to Support Agriculture
- Hilda Halida
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The Youth Innovation Challenge 2025 encourages young innovators to take part in supporting Indonesia’s agriculture and food sectors.
“These various innovations prove that Indonesian youth are capable of addressing global challenges with impactful and intelligent local solutions,” said Assistant Deputy for Global Youth Development at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Esa Sukmawijaya, in a statement in Jakarta on Sunday.
He added, “The Youth Innovation Challenge marks the starting point of a greater youth contribution to Indonesia, and serves as a momentum for us to strengthen collaboration in supporting youth innovation.”
Young innovators from across Indonesia gathered at the Youth Innovation Challenge 2025 in Jakarta to present impactful innovations aimed at accelerating the transformation of the national agrifood system. The competition was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as well as youth-based organizations Pijar Foundation and World Food Forum Indonesia.
A total of 12 early-stage start-ups and six policy papers were selected from more than 230 proposals, under the theme “Circular Economy for a Sustainable Future.”
These innovations span various areas, from ensuring integrated and sustainable agrifood systems, improving inclusive access to capital, empowering farmers with practical technologies, to helping Indonesia reduce food loss and waste.
The FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Rajendra Aryal, said FAO recognizes the ongoing challenges faced by young people: while young innovators across the country are full of ideas, there are few platforms connecting them to national opportunities and policy influence.
“The Youth Innovation Challenge was created to bridge this gap — to help turn early-stage ideas into actionable solutions for communities in need,” Rajendra said.
In Indonesia, farmers are aging, with 80 percent aged 40 and above, according to 2023 data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Meanwhile, half of Indonesia’s unemployed population are young people aged 15–29 years.
This challenge is global in nature. FAO’s 2025 report titled “The Status of Youth in Agrifood Systems” revealed that more than 20 percent of youth are not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
“Bridging the youth employment gap in agriculture could boost the global economy by 1.4 percent, equivalent to US$1.5 trillion,” Rajendra added.
The Youth Innovation Challenge provides participants with mentorship and training, offering practical insights and personalized guidance to strengthen business strategies, scalability, and impact. It also creates networking opportunities with industry experts and investors.
Their aspirations were also directly voiced to government representatives from the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), and the Ministry of Youth and Sports through policy dialogues.
Executive Director of Pijar Foundation, Cazadira F. Tamzil, said that the Youth Innovation Challenge is not merely a competition, it marks the beginning of a collective movement.
“A movement that unites the government, international organizations, academia, the private sector, and the younger generation, to ensure that the innovative ideas of these youth are implemented, developed, and integrated into policies and tangible actions,” Cazadira F. Tamzil stated.
