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.