Borrowed system may not make land project a success

Borrowed system may not make land project a success

By Prapti Widinugraheni

BALI (JP): The government's project to convert one million
hectares of peat soil into land for agriculture in Kalimantan is
unlikely to produce optimum results if the project relies solely
on "borrowed" technology, an agricultural economist said.

Steve R. Tabor, a researcher at the Netherlands-based
International Service for National Agricultural Research, said
here yesterday the project would achieve "less-profitable"
results if the developers failed to do their share of research
and development and opted, instead, for technology brought from
outside the region, even if it was proven successful there.

He noted the need for "sequencing" development priorities in
such cases. He said that for adverse areas like Kalimantan and
Irian Jaya, developers must first understand the ecosystems of
the regions and master the technology required to develop those
areas, because agriculture is a very site-specific sector.

"You can build the infrastructure, clear the jungle, put in
the irrigation and build the roads. And you can try to take
things from Sulawesi or Sumatra and see if they'll grow in
Kalimantan ... But what about the insects? What about pest
problems and the different soils?"

Thus, even though the million-hectare project may succeed, it
may still pose many risks, he said.

Tabor, who previously worked as a consultant for the Ministry
of Agriculture, considered that the main task in developing new
regions is to apply better-managed technological efforts.

"It takes quite some time to develop a suitable technology and
understand the ecosystems. Agricultural research does not work in
only a six-month period," he said.

The mega project involves opening up one million hectares of
peat land in Central Kalimantan and converting it into
agricultural land. About 600,000 hectares is expected to be used
for rice fields and the rest for other types of crops, such as
oil palm.

The project is currently being developed jointly by seven
ministries, including the ministries of public works,
agriculture, transmigration and forestry.

The construction of the project's main irrigation canals,
however, has been assigned to a private company, PT Sumatra Timur
-- a subsidiary of the Sambu Group -- which the government
considered to have successfully developed similar projects in
peat land areas in Riau.

Research

Tabor said that conducting such a large project in such an
adverse region needs years of research.

Within the process, he said, there is a "response lag" between
the time the research is applied and when it can produce the most
optimum results for the region. There is also a "gestation lag",
which occurs during the process of preparing the project,
building infrastructure and choosing and developing the most
effective technology to be applied in the region.

He said a period of five to 15 years is needed before the
overall process can settle in and begin meeting the needs of
people.

"I guess that for the new frontiers of Indonesia's
agriculture, much greater and much more effective research
efforts are long overdue," he said.

Tabor noted that whatever the mega project's outcome, the
first to be affected by it would be farmers.

"If the project fails, farmers will be the first ones to be
hurt. But if it is a success, they will also be the first to
enjoy the results," he said.

The one-million hectare project came from an initiative of
President Soeharto last year, who considered the project
necessary to maintain the country's self-sufficiency in rice.

Over the past two years, Indonesia has had to rely partly on
rice imports after unfavorable weather in 1993 ruined harvests in
many parts of the country.

Indonesia became self-sufficient in rice in 1983 after being
the world's biggest rice importer.