Farming strategy needs changing

Farming strategy needs changing

This is the second of two articles on upland farming.

By Rusdian Lubis

JAKARTA (JP): Is it necessary to formalize common property
rights? Up to the present day there are conflicting opinions on
the effort to legalize land rights. The formalization of farmers'
land rights is expected to give them a sense of security and a
sense of sharing, and will encourage them to participate in
conserving natural resources. Other opinions state that such
legalization of property will cause shifts in rights through
market mechanisms, as farmers will have the opportunity to sell
their land to external parties.

The controversy aside, we need to explore the development of
natural resources, land and water management based on
participation by the local community as an alternative to control
by the state and private sectors. Communal property rights in
other countries have led to higher effectiveness in natural
resources management than the private sector. In his observation
in West Pasaman, Hayami, along with other researchers such as
Bromley and Vondal, claim that regulations based on a local
community and its customs can be flexible and can be modified so
that they can give incentives for local economic development.

The most suitable areas to implement the strategy seem to be
the nuclear estate and small-holder schemes (PIR) and
transmigration areas (Trans), or the combination of both (PIR-
Trans). So far, the failure of PIR-Trans is caused, among other
things, by the issuance of a policy package that resembles the
technology-credit package for rice fields or large farms. Not
only is such a policy package incompatible with the diversity of
the traditional farmers' planting patterns, but it also creates
further burdens to those with a limited capital and collateral.
The pattern of forest farms which constitute a mixture of forest
plants and farming, has potential for development.

We need to understand that PIR produces a large portion of
farming products, especially natural rubber. Ecologically, the
forest-farm pattern also guarantees bio-diversity that is far
more superior than the monocultural system of farms or
industrially planted forests.

One of the requirements of the development of upland
agriculture is the need to develop a marketing system. The
marketing pattern for yields from critical agricultural lands, at
the present time, is based more on the supply side. An inadequate
marketing system for products consumed locally does not really
pose a problem. But on the larger scale the farmers need the help
of active middlemen and more accurate market information,
particularly concerning products meant for export -- such as
cocoa, rubber, and coffee -- for which the international demand
fluctuates.

The role played by various farm produce marketing associa
tions, such as the coffee association and the rubber association,
is highly crucial in identifying market demands, product
transportation and other marketing efforts so that market
orientation shifts from the supply side to the demand side.

In this regard, the government should keep up and supply
market information to the farmers, so that no asymmetry or
manipulation of market information will result which may handicap
producers. This is even more crucial when it comes to perishable
products and products for which the markets are monopolized or
oligopolistic. Deliberate information gaps created by the private
sector will handicap the farmers.

The time has come for us to tackle the problem of upland
agriculture in a more serious and integrated way, involving
various sectors such as agriculture, forestry, transmigration,
farmers and the environment.

So far, upland areas and their nomadic farmers seem to be
neglected. Policy reorientation has become urgent, unless we wish
to watch the annual show of effrontery by these farmers as they
set the forests on fire during the dry season or send down floods
during the rainy season.

The writer is an observer of agriculture and environmental
issues now working at the Environmental Impact Management Agency
(BAPEDAL).