Arti Ekawati, The Jakarta Globe 5 Nov 09;
Farmers and agricultural experts have scoffed at the government’s latest promise to offer millions of hectares of land as part of the national goal of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production.
Shortly after his appointment last month, Agriculture Minister Suswono said he had instructed the National Land Agency (BPN) to seek ways to offer as much as six million hectares of land outside Java to rice farmers.
He said that reviving the transmigration scheme, first launched during the Suharto era, would be a priority for his ministry during its first 100 days.
But farmers have heard this before. The last government made the same promise. And nothing happened.
“[The government] didn’t implement the program during its last term, so why have they set the same target again?” said Henry Saragih, chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Federation (FSPI).
Bungaran Saragih, an agriculture analyst from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said he doubted the program would be implemented.
“Where is the land for the program? Whose land will be given to farmers?” he said.
The country consumes more and more rice while the amount of farmland shrinks. According to BPN statistics, more than 140,000 hectares of farmland is being converted into commercial and industrial land every year, while only 40,000 hectares of land is converted to farmland.
Meanwhile, the population grows by 1.6 percent yearly, further straining food resources. While the country has regained rice self-sufficiency in 2008, many fear it could once again become a net importer of rice.
Henry said the government should proceed gradually rather than make big promises, beginning by declining to extend the land licenses of private plantation companies.
“Privately owned companies should return their land to the state as soon as their licenses expire,” he said, adding that this would leave the government more land to give to farmers.
Rice farmers struggle to wrest a living out of small farms — 75 percent of small-scale farmers own plots of just 0.2 hectares or less, according to data collected in 2003.
Bungaran said the government should create jobs for rice farmers outside of agriculture instead of promising them more land. He said reducing the number of farmers would increase the average size of farms, improving efficiency and returns for those still farming.
