Farmers furious about dwindling farmland

Farmers furious about dwindling farmland

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Farmers across the country staged street rallies on Wednesday as
they commemorated the 43rd anniversary of the National Farmers
Day, and urged the government not to privatize the agriculture
sector as it would sideline them.

Hundreds of farmers brought some 20 tractors to the streets in
Karawang, a major rice producing area in West Java, in their
rallies.

Abdul Arrief, the secretary general of the Karawang Farmers
Council, said the move was aimed at showing the authorities that
farmers have no more land to till.

"We have less farmland nowadays as other industries have
turned our farms into commercial establishments," he said.

In Jambi, hundreds of protesters staged a rally outside the
Jambi city council. They asked the government to protect farmers
and the agriculture sector.

Feri Yansyah, who led the protest, said that the government
had failed to provide legislation that guaranteed farmer's access
to land.

"It is a very sad reality that the government treats farmers
poorly. They apparently forget that farmers are the main pillar
of our country's agriculture sector," he said.

Feri also called for re-distribution of land from industry to
farmers in a bid to prevent possible disputes in the future.

"The government must protect farmers over the ownership of
farmland," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

In nearby Bandar Lampung, protesters raised their objection to
the liberalization of the agriculture sector and genetically
altered crops.

"Our rejection is due to the fact that the government
policies have sidelined farmers, who must go to cities as blue-
collar workers," said Praja Wiguna, who led the rally.

Thousands of farmers also staged rallies in West Java towns of
Subang and Jatigede, South Sulawesi town of Bulukumba, Bengkulu,
Yogyakarta and Central Java towns of Semarang and Wonosobo.

Several disputes involving land ownership have occurred
recently in those cities. In Jatigede, farmers specifically
rejected the government's plan to dam up a river that would
create a reservoir covering their farmland of some 5,000
hectares.

The farmers visited the city council in each town, asking the
councillors to pay attention to their condition.

Indonesia, still an agrarian-dominated country, has huge
problems regarding the distribution of land ownership between
poor farmers, rich farmers and the private sector. The number of
farmers continues to decline as well as the average amount land
that each farmer owns.

Currently, the government is drafting a bill to revise the
1960 Agrarian Law.