Legislators reject water charge plan for farmers<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legislators vowed on Friday to reject any move to obligate
\nfarmers to pay for irrigation water as stipulated in the water
\nresources bill now being deliberated at the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR).<\/p>\n
Erman Suparno of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
\nKarimun Usman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) said they would lobby other factions to reject the
\ncontroversial plan, as it would only worsen farmers' already
\nstraitened circumstances.<\/p>\n
"We will absolutely refuse the plan. We do not want to burden
\nfarmers with any water charges. This is a promise," Erman told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
According to Erman, asking farmers to pay for water from
\nstate-owned irrigation projects was inappropriate due to their
\nlow financial means.<\/p>\n
"If the government prepares such an article in the draft
\ngovernment regulation, they must drop it," Erman said.<\/p>\n
The draft regulation, which is to be issued after the water
\nresource bill is endorsed, stipulates that water charges for
\nfarmland will be decided based on irrigation fees farmers paid to
\ntheir associations.<\/p>\n
Karimun concurred with Erman, and said that any plan to charge
\nfarmers for irrigation water would violate the amended 1945
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
"It is crazy if anyone intends to charge farmers for
\nirrigation water. Most of our population are farmers, and a free
\nwater supply must be ensured for their farms," he said.<\/p>\n
The draft confirmed earlier concerns voiced by non-
\ngovernmental organizations (NGOs) and farmers associations, that
\nthe water resource bill would force farmers to pay for irrigation
\nwater, in keeping with the concept of full-cost recovery for any
\nirrigation developments.<\/p>\n
The government has repeatedly denied such allegations.<\/p>\n
Their debate centers on Article 41.1 and 41.2. Article 41.1
\nstipulates that water for farmland managed by farmers
\nassociations would be given the right to use water without any
\ncharges; but Article 42.2 states that the farming business,
\nincluding plantations, fish farms, fishery firms and animal
\nhusbandry outfits must pay water charges.<\/p>\n
At present, farmers only pay an irrigation fee for
\ninfrastructure maintenance, but they do not pay water charges.<\/p>\n
Of the country's 11 million hectares of total farmland, 7.1
\nmillion hectares are irrigated farmland.<\/p>\n
Other users, such as tap water companies, power producers and
\nother private firms, pay water charges.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Farmers
\nFederation (FSPI) Henry Saragih warned that if the government
\nproceeded with the ruling requiring farmers to pay for irrigation
\nwater, his organization would fight to annul the plan.<\/p>\n
"We will fight for free water, because water is very important
\nto farmers, like land. You will see farmers resist, just like the
\naction we took in the land acquisition cases in Kedung Ombo
\n(Central Java), Cimacan (West Java) and other places," he said.<\/p>\n
He said that water charges for farmlands would put farmers in
\ndeep water, as they had already been distressed by poor policies
\non seeds, pesticides and fertilizers.<\/p>",
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