City councilor calls for optimal use of idle land

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor urged the municipality yesterday to promote the farming of idle plots of land, including those owned by the private sector.

Lukman Mokoginta of Commission D for development affairs said the campaign might motivate residents to make optimal use of their vacant land or yards during the economic crisis.

Planting popular commodities such as cassava, chili and fruit will help Jakarta families who are hard hit by the soaring prices of basic foodstuffs, he said.

Lukman said it was up to the municipality to start approaching owners of unproductive land and encouraging them to participate in the program.

"There are thousands of hectares of idle plots in and around the city which have been abandoned by the owners as the real estate business has been relatively dead during the crisis."

He made reference to plots on Jl. Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta, the Kuningan area in South Jakarta, Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and a 25-hectare plot for a cemetery in Bintaro, South Jakarta.

There are lots of empty plots in East Jakarta, which were originally set aside for real estate projects, he said.

When asked to comment, Rofine Nataprawira, a senior official in the city's agriculture agency, said the municipality had been working on the idea for quite some time.

"There is a 1990 gubernatorial decree and instruction to make use of the idle plots. But the implementation of the policy is difficult," she said.

Most land owners worry that their property might be illegally taken over by the temporary occupants, Rofine said.

She cited, by way of example, the incident in Cempaka Putih, East Jakarta, where the occupants -- who were given permission to farm the plot for a short time -- refused to leave the area.

"It's really difficult to handle them."

She said there were about 18 hectares of nonproductive land in Central Jakarta.

"Based on the agency's experience, there's a lack of coordination among the plot owners, the temporary occupants and the officials."

Rofine said owners sometimes wanted occupants to quickly vacate the land if a businessperson decided to develop the land.

"How could the farmers leave the plants they cultivated on the land before completing the harvest?"

She said the three prime commodities for city farming were fruit, vegetables and decorative plants.

One of the most successful farming projects on unused land is recorded on state land along the banks of Cideng River near Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, she said.

The project, which started in 1990, allows occupants to plant various vegetables such as spinach and cassava.

The area has since become a role model for such projects in Jakarta, she said. (edt/ind)