Questions abound as giant rice estate plan proceeds
Questions abound as giant rice estate plan proceeds
By Prapti Widinugraheni
JAKARTA (JP): The government's ambitious program to convert
more than one million hectares of peat land into rice and food
crop estates has stirred a huge controversy.
But the US$217 million mega project, initiated by a June 1995
Presidential Decree, has started and there is to be no turning
back, according to officials.
Work began last month on a 1,000-hectare experimental plot
which was planted with high-quality seeds and applied new
agriculture technology.
A 10,000-hectare plot has also been opened recently, applying
the technology, crops and plants used in the 1,000-hectare
experimental plot.
The government will continue to expand the area, adding
another 10,000 hectares this year and 10,000 hectares next year.
The overall project is scheduled to be completed by the year
2005.
According to the director of Land Rehabilitation and
Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sinis Munandar, rice
estates will make up 700,000 hectares of the total area because
not all parts of the peat land are suitable for planting rice.
By 2005, the 700,000 hectares of rice estates is expected to
produce some 5.9 million tons a year.
Workers for the program will consist of local residents and
transmigrants from the populous provinces in Java, Bali and Nusa
Tenggara.
Sinis, in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, was
optimistic there would be no difficulty in persuading workers to
come to the area.
"The place will become a growth center. It won't consist only
of rice fields and plantations but it will also have other
facilities for the people, such as schools, health centers and
markets," he said.
In addition to this, he said, each family will be entitled to
own 2.5 hectares of certified land, including housing facilities.
"I'm sure it will work out well. What other attitude can we
have? Our rice fields are declining in number, so there's nothing
else we can do but make up for the loss.
"Let's just wait and see the results of the 10,000 hectares
next year."
Effort
The idea of converting peat land into rice fields first
emerged in mid-1995, when the government realized that a major
effort was needed to restore and secure the country's self-
sufficiency in rice.
Unhusked rice production last year was estimated to have
increased by only 4 percent, to about 52 million tons -- lower
than the 6 percent expected.
The government said the situation was partly caused by the
decrease in harvested acreage. Many rice fields, particularly
those in Java -- which provides about 60 percent of the rice
consumed by Indonesia's 195 million people -- have been converted
into settlements and industrial sites.
This slashed the total area of rice fields in the country from
16.7 million hectares in 1983 to 15.9 million hectares in 1993.
The drop in production and the rise in consumption, caused by
the ever-increasing population, saw Indonesia lose its self-
sufficiency in rice -- an accolade it had achieved in 1984.
In 1993, the country had to rely partly on imports and in
1994, production fell to 46.6 million tons -- the lowest level in
15 years.
In the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal
year, rice imports reached US$239.7 million in value -- the
highest level for more than a decade.
The government realized that relying on imports was risky
because the world had a very thin rice market, amounting to less
than five million tons at any time.
It was for these reasons that the government decided to start
a number of initiatives, which are expected to increase rice
production by at least 5 percent this year.
As demonstrated by Sinis, the government has high hopes for
the mega project.
But others are skeptical. Members of the Indonesian Peat
Society have warned that the project needs thorough planning.
Bambang Setiadi, the society's chairman, told legislators in a
hearing earlier this year that the most important aspect of the
project was increasing the land's fertility and ensuring it had a
sound irrigation system.
He said: "Otherwise, we cannot expect transmigrants, who will
be the tillers, to be willing to work in the area," he said in
the hearing.
He warned that if the project failed, Indonesia would no doubt
be the object of criticism, particularly from abroad.
But Sinis is convinced Indonesia has the technology and
experts to undertake the job successfully.
"I know peat land is not very good for agriculture, but we
have thousands of professors and the technology is there. Why
should we be pessimistic?" he said.
In spite of the debate, no one -- not even the peat society --
is openly opposed to the mega project.
This is not only because the project has already started --
making little space for debate -- but also because the public is
fully aware of the rice crisis Indonesia might face if no major
breakthrough is made.
Economic considerations were put aside and people felt there
was no need to calculate how much Indonesia would lose from the
conversion of forests in the area to rice and plantation estates.
According to the Ministry of Forestry, the million-hectare
peat land overlaps with some 15 forest concessions covering more
than 500,000 hectares.
The government also seems comfortable with the thought that
the area will still be productive during droughts, when most rice
fields in Java are unproductive.
"Droughts are actually good for peat land areas, which are
wetlands. So when droughts hit Java, the peat land will be
productive," Sinis said.
If the opposite occurred, such as when the 1,000-hectare
experimental plot was recently swamped by floods caused by heavy
downpours, then: "That is a misfortune we cannot avoid, just like
the recent floods in Jakarta," Sinis said.
"If the experimental plot shows unfavorable results, we will
just have to improve things. There's no going back on this," he
said.