Effects of transmigration policy questioned

Effects of transmigration policy questioned

By Deny Hidayati

Indonesia's transmigration program could find itself in a
quagmire.

SINGAPORE: The conversion of forested areas for transmigration
settlement has resulted in dramatic changes in Indonesia's
landscape. Consequently, transmigration has become a
controversial subject and a target of criticism among
international and national groups, particularly non-governmental
organizations.

The debate encompasses a wide range of issues, including the
negative impact on the local population and the environment, as
well as the scope and cost of such schemes.

More recently, the government announced its decision to clear
one million hectares of gambut (peatland) forest in the province
of Central Kalimantan. According to the Minister of Public Works,
the government plans to open 20,000 hectares of land for
1996/1997 alone in order to achieve this target. It was proposed
to clear 70 hectares of gambut land every day. However, it
appears that the target cannot be reached owing to difficulties
in implementation and, by the end of 1996, only 10 percent or
about 2,000 hectares of gambut land had been cleared.

The reclamation of gambut areas is closely related to
important policy issues that affect the development of marginal
lands in the Outer Islands of Indonesia. The Indonesian
government expects the transmigration program to play an
important role in the development of gambut areas, although its
original purpose was to redistribute excess population from Java.
The program is also regarded as an important means of increasing
food production, especially rice, in the Outer Islands.

The development of gambut areas in the coastal areas for
cultivation is, however, problematic. Gambut land is mainly
composed of woody residues of roots, stumps, trunks, leaves and
branches of trees. It is ecologically fragile and its development
is hindered by inherent physical, biological features as well as
socio-economic constraints. Acidity and toxicity are major
agricultural problems in many gambut transmigration settlements
in Central Kalimantan, such as Barambai, Belawang and Tabunganen.
The soils in these areas are low in minerals and high in acid.

Evidently, gambut is unsuitable soil for food crop
cultivation, particularly for growing wetland rice. The
development of gambut areas requires more effort, higher
investment and different strategies than other fertile areas. For
example, gambut land should not be cleared using heavy tractors
as it will sweep away the shallow topsoil. However, in order to
clear one million hectares, the use of tractors and other heavy
machinery is, unfortunately, unavoidable and considered essential
in order to open up as much as 70 hectares of gambut a day.
Consequently, the soil becomes highly acidic and the use of heavy
machinery also causes high pressure on the soil, resulting in
compaction and run-off.

Another important issue of the transmigration program is the
huge number of people to be settled in the scheme. Transmigration
Minister Siswono Yudohusodo said that his department will move
about 316,000 households or about 1.3 million people to Central
Kalimantan within five years. The numbers, of course, have a huge
demographic impact. It will almost double the population of
Central Kalimantan. The central government seems unaware of the
dangers of such a drastic increase in population. The number of
transmigrants will gradually outnumber the local and indigenous
people, threatening their lands, and social and cultural
identity.

Transmigrants, who are unfamiliar with gambut areas, have to
adjust and modify to the new environment. Unfortunately, many
studies have shown that most transmigrants do not have adequate
information about their destinations. For example, the
transmigrants in Tabunganen, a peat swamp settlement, were
shocked, on their arrival to see flood waters reaching 1.5 meters
water in their settlement. They could not swim, and neither did
they know how to use simple water transport. They also did not
know how to convert saline and acid water into fresh water, or
how to look for fresh water.

The situation is often made worse because site preparation is
far from adequate. Houses for the transmigrants have not been
adequately built and most do not have suitable drainage
or irrigation systems. For example, transmigrants in Tabunganen
had to wait 11 years for the construction of suitable drainage
infrastructure. During the first two years of their settlement,
their area was flooded almost continuously and no crops could be
grown. The government then constructed a dyke near the area and
pumped the water out. Unfortunately, tides exceeded the volume of
water pumped out. After this failure, the government constructed
a large dam covering the whole Tabunganen Transmigration project,
and also developed and rehabilitated tertiary canals.

In the following year, flap gates (inlets) were constructed in
each of the canals. However, the gates broke just after the
official opening ceremony because they were poorly constructed.
Consequently, water flooded the fields because of the lack of
drainage. To overcome the problem, the government, after spending
a large sum of money, finally removed all the flap gates.

It is difficult to implement intensive agricultural practices
in conditions where facilities and information are still
inadequate or inappropriate. Although transmigration agricultural
programs have promoted intensive cultivation, using high-yielding
rice varieties, chemical fertilizers and pesticides,
transmigrants have not been provided with any explanation on how
to use this improved technology in the local environment.
Therefore, the goal of the transmigration program to increase
rice production through the expansion and intensification of
agriculture has not been successful.

Ironically, transmigrants, who were intended to be pioneers
and initiators in the practice of intensive permanent agriculture
in traditional cultivation areas have, in many instances, adopted
local methods of cultivation, such as the slash and burn system,
thereby putting greater pressure on the land and the traditional
cultivation practices of the indigenous people.

The over-extension of settlement into unsuitable marginal land
is due to over-ambitious resettlement targets. Many settlements
are located on poor quality lands with a high risk of failure.
Cleared forests have been transformed into farming areas,
although these are mostly unsuitable for agriculture. In spite of
the history of failures, the conversion of forests for
transmigration settlements seems to continue, and this will
inevitably add to the problems faced by the transmigrants and
local people.

A cloud of doubt is still hovering over the reclamation of
gambut areas, especially on the long-term economic, social and
ecological stability of large-scale transmigrant settlements.
The Indonesian government could perhaps avoid implementing
policies formulated in Jakarta without taking into consideration
local conditions. Gambut areas have a unique ecosystem, requiring
a specific agroecological development strategy. It cannot be
packaged or generalized like other agricultural programs.
Experience suggests that the most crucial task for the Ministry
of Transmigration is to provide transmigrants with information
about gambut and how to deal with its unique ecosystem.

Dr. Deny Hidayati is a researcher at PPT-LIPI (Center for
Population and Manpower Studies, Indonesian Institute of
Sciences).