Govt mulls redistributing neglected plots to landless

Govt mulls redistributing neglected plots to landless

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is considering taking over or increasing taxes
on neglected farm and plantation land, and distributing the plots
to the landless as part of an agrarian reform program, an
official says.

Lutfi Ibrahim Nasution, head of the State Land Agency, said on
Tuesday the idea arose in response to the growing number of
landless in the country, as well as the fact that many concession
holders neglected their plots.

"The state awards concessions either for plantations or
farming, not to be neglected. It is not fair if the land is
neglected while there are millions of landless laborers who are
ready to cultivate the land," he said after a seminar on land
reform organized by the Indonesian Farmers Associations (HKTI).

According to an agriculture census in 2003, the number of
landless laborers is increasing by 1.7 percent each year. In
2003, they numbered 24.4 million, up from 20.5 million in 1993.
The agriculture census is taken by the government every 10 years.

Over 2,000 companies currently control concessions covering
4.6 million hectares of lands across the country.

Lutfi said concession holders were required to use the land
for farming or plantations to maintain and support the country's
food supply.

He said the government was considering awarding some 22 square
meters of farmland to each landless laborer.

"We might take over neglected concessions or impose more taxes
on concession holders to finance this project. But we are still
discussing this," Lutfi said.

The laborers would not get the land free, but would have to
pay for it in installments. And the plots could not be sold for
any purpose other than farming. Lutfi said he hoped the program
could be applied in densely populated areas.

He also said the government was considering placing limits on
the amount of land companies could control.

"I know of a company that owns more than 260,000 hectares of
land, which is equivalent to 22 times the size of the town of
Bogor town (in West Java), while the amount of farmland continues
to decrease due to rampant development," he said.

The government, Lutfi said, was considering limiting
companies' land ownership to 40,000 hectares of land per
province.

HKTI chairman Siswono Yudohusodo suggested the government ban
the conversion of farmland into housing or other non-farming
purposes, particularly in Java and Bali.

"The government must prohibit farmers from selling their land
for non-farming purposes," he said.

Siswono fears the loss of farmland to housing complexes,
roads, dams and other infrastructure could eventually leave the
country unable to meet its food demands.

"It would be a blow to small farmers, whose numbers increase
every year, and the whole nation if we had to import food," he
said.

Indonesia faces massive problems regarding the distribution of
land among small farmers, wealthy farmers and the private sector.

And uncertainty over land ownership has led to disputes
between landless laborers and corporate land owners, a situation
that has been neglected for over three decades.