77,000 families resettled

77,000 families resettled

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: Over the past decade, the province
has resettled over 77,000 farmers who had occupied protected
forests, a local senior official said yesterday.

Chief of the provincial office of transmigration Jogjapratono
said the farmers were moved from the Mt. Balak, Wonosobo, Padang
Cermin and Pulo Panggung forests.

He said the provincial government had a problem because it did
not have enough land to resettle all the forest squatters.

Currently, more than 86,500 squatter families have yet to be
resettled while the remaining land is only enough to accommodate
12,000 families.

"Much of the land is swampy and a lot has yet to be done to
make it arable," he said, reported Antara.

The government blames forest squatters for deforestation
because of their well-known slash-and-burn farming techniques.
(pan)