Confronting a Deliberate Food Crisis

The slogan "gemah ripah loh jinawi" once painted a picture of Indonesia's fertile lands and thriving communities. However, this image has become increasingly blurred as farmers, who should be the backbone of food sovereignty, are pushed to massively commercialize their land's produce. The government, it seems, is disregarding the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law by enforcing food programs like Food Estate across various regions in Indonesia. These programs, portrayed as solutions to the food crisis, often end up severing the bond between communities and their land. National Farmers' Day, which was meant to be a moment to appreciate the struggles of Indonesia's farming community, has now become a mere annual ceremony.

While Pantau Gambut reports the failure of rice harvests in the Central Kalimantan Food Estate, data from the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) as of September 22, 2023, reveals rice imports amounting to 1,028,478 tons out of a planned 2 million tons. Abil Salsabila, a Campaigner for Pantau Gambut, comments, "The government's policy regarding this 2-millionton import plan contradicts the food sovereignty guaranteed by the state, as stipulated in Law No. 41 of 2009 concerning the Protection of Sustainable Food Agricultural Land. Implementing programs like Food Estate, in the end, is simply not appropriate."

To carry out these programs, the government often exceeds the environmental carrying capacity. Pantau Gambut has recorded 700 hectares of deforestation in Tewai Baru Village, Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan. The land clearance, under the guise of a food crisis solution, poses an increased risk to the peatland ecosystem's degradation. Additionally, the FAO's warning about El Niño, issued in February 2023, predicts the risk of crop failures. This refers to the 2019 experience when decreased rainfall led to poor harvests.

The minimal involvement of farmers as food producers and the neglect of the peatland ecosystem, which differs significantly from mineral land, will inevitably lead to suboptimal harvests. Pantau Gambut's research has identified a significant difference in rice production between peatland and mineral land.

Table 1. Comparison of rice production yields in peatland and mineral land

It's important to conduct an evaluation of the Food Estate project, especially concerning the peatland ecosystem, as it could lead to even more severe damage. Abil added, "Involving farmers as key players in food production is also crucial because food security cannot solely rely on market mechanisms controlled by large-scale monoculture food industries. Let's not turn our abundant and prosperous land into something less promising."