Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Food estate is one of President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) important projects. Unfortunately, this work did not run smoothly. A lot of criticism came as a result of seeing the results of the food barn not meeting expectations.
Even so, this project continues. In fact, Presidential Candidate Prabowo Subianto has clearly stated that he will continue this project when he is elected number one person in Indonesia in 2024.
Apart from that, in the historical narrative, food estate projects in Indonesia are not something new. Unfortunately, history has also proven that the program did not go according to expectations.
The beginning of this program can be dated back 30 years. In the 1990s, President Soeharto became the first ruler to launch a program called the Mega Rice Project.
Through this policy, Soeharto wanted to turn the peat swamps in Central Kalimantan into a place to develop rice production. It is projected that there are a million peatlands that will be transformed.
According to Jenny Goldstein in “Carbon Bomb: Indonesia’s Failed Mega Rice Project” (2016), scientists actually thought that Mega Rice Project will fail. Soil condition factors are the main cause. However, they were powerless to stop Suharto’s ambitions.
“This project was carried out without consultation and analysis so it ended in major failure. After the land was cleared and rice was planted, it was discovered that the peat soil was too acidic and lacked the nutrients needed for rice growth,” the book notes. Swallowing Indonesian Forests.
As a result, the government suffered huge losses. Local communities are marginalized. Forests were wiped out and this was the start of the greatest environmental disaster of the late 20th century.
“What remains of this program is dry peat soil. As a result, during the dry season this peat soil burns. Peat soil fires have caused severe air pollution and a public health crisis throughout Asia,” the research authors wrote. Swallowing Indonesian Forests WALHI collaboration,” noted the research authors Swallowing Indonesian Forests WALHI collaboration.
“In 1997 there was a six-month fire season that shocked the world with photos of burning forests and villages, including burning orangutans,” he said.
Even though it was proven to be a failure, a similar policy was carried out again by the next government. In 2010, President SBY launched the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) program. The aim is to guarantee Indonesia’s self-sufficiency in terms of food and energy.
Controversy emerged.
His argument revolves around the Jawacentric program which seeks to create agricultural land producing rice, sugar cane and palm oil, all of which is used for the Javanese population, not the Papuan people. As a result, the Papuan people who eat sago every day have lost their main source of food because of the government’s actions.
In the end, as expected, this project also failed to produce food crops in large quantities.
“Nine years after its launch, the “MIFEE” project produces almost no food or energy. This is a shallow tactic that has seized and cleared land for logging, or conversion into oil palm or acacia plantations and accelerated other export industries,” the research wrote.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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