In the late '80s, the government adopted a policy which enabled local and foreign private entrepreneurs to develop and manage Industrial Estates/Zones in Indonesia.
As a result, important Rice Producing area in West Java that are located close to Jakarta i.e. Bekasi, Karawang and Cikampek, have been converted from Rice Fields into Industrial Estates/Zones and Residential Estates. From then on, Indonesia has changed from a Rice Self Sufficient country into an importer of Rice.Statistics of the National Land Agency (BPN) shows that there are around 7,8 million hectares of irrigated Rice fields in Indonesia, but they are being rapidly swallowed up by property developments at a rate of more than 140,000 hectares a year.
And according to the Department of Agriculture the population has been growing by about 1.6% per year, putting significant strains on food resources.
In order to anticipate more problems in the future, the government and the National Parliament (DPR) are now preparing a Bill to protect Rice Fields from those Developers of Industrial and Residential estates.
But unfortunately, the said Bill is only intended for Rice Fields located in the country sides, but not for those located in towns/cities.
Whereas according to Profesor Hermanto Siregar of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) conversion of Rice Fields in Towns/Cities reached around 2,5 Hectare a year. So if average productivity of Rice is 4,88 Ton per Hectare this means that there will be a decrease in Rice production of 12,2 million Ton.
For details on the above, please click here and here.
Considering the above facts, I hope that the Government and DPR will prepare the Bill based on the best interests of our country and people, that is to be Rice Self Sufficient once again.
15 comments:
What a misery. Rice fields devastated for real estate industries. I find them so in my city. Investors and money have washed away the nature's wealth...
Edwin ...
A misery indeed
I believe your country is beginning to experience some of the greed we have been dealing with for a long time. It's not about common sense or eating and surviving. It's all amount money and how much can I get in this lifetime. Same thing when it comes to cutting down all the forest and plant life that supply our daily need of oxygen. Duh!!!! Thanks for this post and I hope everything gets worked out for the best of the people.
Friends 4 Life!
Eddie ...
Yes, it all about money
but the leader says Indonesia in the last year be swasembada beras but in the fact we do rice importer. I hope our goverment and DPR more focus about this problem
Nathalia ..
I do hope so.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
This is a very sad state of affairs.
USA is also falling into a similar dilemma. What once know as the king of Industries is quickly being known as a service industry.
It seems like mans need for greed and power is quite obviously becoming his own weapon of self destruction. What once was known as being for the people is now totally self serving to the rich and powerful politicians.
Dorothy ...
It seems that that conversions happen all over the world
same thing is happening in my country, the Rice terraces of Bagiuo in the Phillipines is now deteriorating, and some part of it is now subdivision, residential area, and the production of rice decreased immensely, even the rice fields in many provinces were also converted into commercial and residential area, time will come that we have shelter but with no food to eat
Josie ..
Although industrialization is needed to expedite development of a country however it does not mean that farmland can be sacrifised. Both can be developed side by side
Rice fields was once a protected agricultural zone in most countries after the second world war. But now with the availability of cheaper imports, rice fields are no longer an important protected agricultural zone.
Forexwatch ...
Rice is the main food for Indonesian people therefore it is a vital and strategic commodity. A country should do its best to fulfill such commodity by itself. Otherwise the country would be vulnerable to influences.
Its difficult to protect rice fields if the price of rice is low. Would Indonesians be willing to pay the farmer a higher price for their rice in order to protect the sawah?
Not a simple issue and a highly political one.
Pj ...
The problem is complicated : the farmers are complaining about high production costs e.g for expensive fertilizer.
While the fertilizer producers are complaining about high expensive or unavailability of LNG because the LNG producers prefer to export them.
There should be a political will to settle the problem not part by part but as a whole.
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