New draft regulation may require farmers to pay for water

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has sparked controversy by proposing a regulation that will oblige farmers to pay for irrigation water, a move that could significantly raise agricultural production costs.

Article 7(5) of the draft government regulation, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post, states water charges for agricultural land will be decided based on the irrigation fees paid by farmers to their local agricultural associations.

Water charges would be payable by farmers for using water sourced from irrigation systems, while irrigation fees would be payable for the maintenance of irrigation infrastructure.

The extra charges would increase production costs for millions of farmers. Some 7.1 million hectares of agricultural land is dependent on irrigation out of a total of 11 million hectares of farming land across the country.

At present, only tap water consumers, power suppliers and other profit-oriented users must pay water charges.

The government expects to complete the draft regulation as soon as the House of Representatives endorses the water resources bill, which is currently being deliberated.

Both the government and the House have repeatedly maintained that farmers would not be charged for the water they use to irrigate their land.

The possibility of a U-turn has been suspected by some non- governmental organizations given that the water resources bill adopts the concept of full-cost recovery for irrigation developments.

The NGOs have also questioned the need for an article in the water resources bill that requires agricultural enterprises, including plantations, fish farms, fishing companies and livestock rearers to pay water charges.

Nugroho, from the Farmers Initiative for an Ecological Livelihood and Democracy (Field), said on Thursday that the draft government regulation clearly reflected the government's intention to charge all water users.

"We know the new concept legalizes full-cost recovery for water developments, meaning farmers must pay for all the water they use to cover the development of irrigation infrastructure. The draft government regulation has been created to clearly legitimize the concept as the water resources bill is open to interpretation," he said.

Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that water and the natural resources contained in the earth must be managed by the state so as to ensure the optimum well-being of the people.

Nila Ardhianie of the Indonesian Forum on Globalization (INFOG) warned of social chaos if the government pushed ahead with the regulation.

She said that farmers in South Africa, for example, had destroyed infrastructure to get water as they could not afford to pay their water bills.

"The government must realize that water is not a commodity. It is a gift from God like the air, so that everyone must have unhindered access to it," she said.

Given the new concept, she said, only powerful economic sectors would benefit.

She called on the government to hold a transparent public debate on the water resources bill and its executory regulations.

However, Adi Sarwoko Soeronegoro, the director of water resources utilization at the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, and Soedarmanto, the head of the institutions' division, said the article would only be implemented when farmers had sufficient financial capacity.

Soedarmanto said the article might not be implemented even 10 years after the regulation came into effect.

However, this is not apparent from the draft government regulation, even though it guarantees a grace period before the levying of water charges.

When questioned about this, Soedarmanto said that the government would further study the draft regulation.