ABSTRACT
A positive factor is that surpluses have been created in agriculture, although those surpluses have benefited rural populations unevenly. Moreover, agriculture has been commercializing under a combination of factors. Whatever macroeconomic development processes for the Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (D.I.Y.) are going to be experienced, the issue of rural employment expansion must be carefully considered. Trade and hotel activities are growing relatively fast in the D.I.Y. These activities are benefiting from the buoyancy of tourism in the region. A high quality of life and a narrowing rural-urban disparities gap are, indeed, remarkable assets that must also be consolidated and reinforced. A possible regional development strategy to achieve the latter would be through expanding employment in rural areas and increasing rural-urban linkages between secondary cities or small towns and their hinterland. Gunung Kidul District was the main producing area of maize in the mid-1980s with almost half of the total regional production.
