When Indonesia began its Mega Paddy project in the mid-1990s, it cleared vast tracts of forest for farmland, mostly in the Kalimantan peatlands, only to discover that the carbon-rich peatlands were poor rice crops. ..
Fast forward to today and the government is repeating the same nonsense with a nearly identical "food ownership" program, with multiple reports of forest loss associated with the program.
The Indonesian government's plan to create large-scale agricultural plantations across the country is said to be leading to the loss of forests, including fragile peatlands.
A recent spatial analysis by Pantau Gambut found that more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of forest have been cleared in the province of Central Kalimantan. The largest forest loss was found in Tewai Baru village in Gunung Mas district, where 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of forest were cleared for cassava plantations as part of a food programme.
This coincides with another analysis by the Indonesian organization Greenpeace in 2022, which found that 760 hectares (1,880 acres) of forest had been cleared in Gunung Mas since November 2020.
Deforestation for food projects also continues in the northern part of Sumatra. In July 2022, an investigation by the NGO Kaoem Telapak there found that deforestation was occurring in the village of Ulu Merah in North Sumatra, with plans to clear 500 hectares (1,240 acres).
If the food field is not yielding optimal results - [or] is considered unsuccessful based on a number of criteria - the project should be reconsidered.
Adrianus Erkan, Head of Forestry and Land Division, Indonesian Environmental Law Center
A spatial analysis using data from Global Forest Watch shows that at least 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest have been cleared by September 2022.
According to Kaom Telopak, this forested area is home to protected animals such as the Sumatran tiger ( Panthera tigris sondaica ) and sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ).
"Who wouldn't get angry?" lost forest
Logging is of great importance to the indigenous Dayak community, says Rangkap, a resident of Tewai Baru village. The forest provides the timber they use to build their homes, the wild boars and rabbits they hunt for food, and the plants they collect for traditional medicine.
“This is where we babysitters go. Now it looks like a field. Who wouldn't be angry?” It was stated in a reprise, which was reported by BBC Indonesia. “The forest is gone. There is no cassava [to harvest]. Who gets hurt? People suffer.”
Another villager, Ebel Lons, 69, said his land had been turned into an agricultural farm without his permission under the Food Estates programme.
"About 3 hectares [7.4 hectares] of my land that were included in the program were worked directly by them without any coordination [with me]," he said, quoting Pantov Gambot. "So compensation."
Shigu, chief of the village of Tefai Baru, said that the floods increased in the village after the forest was cut down. He said that the flood level previously reached only 50 centimeters. However, the flood waters have now reached three times that level.
Dion Noel, a villager living on the river bank, said his house was flooded two hours after heavy rain.
"This flood is bad for us," he said. “Besides, the flood happened at night. It's time to sleep, there is no water.”
Dion and others have called for reforestation.
According to Indonesia's Greenpeace, which also investigated the food-cutting program in Tewai Baru, flooding there was exacerbated by the loss of vegetation in newly cleared areas, which accelerated rainwater runoff due to the loss of sandy soil.
The problem extends to nearby wetlands and rivers, where a combination of large sediment and woody debris from the cleared areas has blocked water flow, exacerbating flooding.
According to Bayu Hirinath, director of the Central Kalimantan Ecological Forum (Walhi), the forest cleared for cassava plantations is also home to the Bornean orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus ). The great ape is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List, with an estimated 150,000 Bornean orangutans killed between 1999 and 2015, mostly due to deforestation and poaching.
BBC Indonesia quoted Bayu as saying, "There [the cleared area] is one of the forest areas and it's a corridor for orangutans."
Pantau Gambut also revealed that Tewai Baru has been earmarked for the government's social forestry program starting in 2019, which means the forest there must remain under community management.
One of the largest social and environmental experiments of its kind, the Social Forestry Program aims to redistribute 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of state forests to local communities and empower them to manage their own forests.
The fact that the food estate program criss-crosses the social map of forests means the program threatens the land rights of local people, said Agiel Prakosa, head of research at Pantau Gambut.
The question is, who among them is the first to see the government? [Because] the social forestry program is also a government priority,” he told Mongapa.
Clean up "forbidden" peatlands.
The Pantau Gambut analysis also found that the food farming program is destroying peatlands, despite government promises that the program will protect and preserve this key ecosystem.
Environmental experts point to this as a particular concern given the important role peatlands play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Per hectare, peatlands store 20 times more carbon than rainforest or mineral soil and are home to rich biodiversity.
Indonesia's World Resources Institute (WRI) says the food farm program should avoid areas with peat beds more than 1 meter (3 feet) deep because they are carbon intensive sinks and less suitable for growing crops. He also recommends avoiding primary and secondary forest peatlands, as such plants can emit 62.25 metric tons of carbon dioxide per hectare per year, the equivalent of burning more than 26,000 liters of fuel.
The Pangan Pangan project should also avoid peatlands designated as protected areas by the government, according to the Water Resources Institute of Indonesia. The report says that all of these types of peat must become "no-go areas" for the project.
However, a spatial analysis of Pantau Gambut using GFW GLAD Alert data found that between January and October 2022, 233 hectares (576 acres) of forest were lost to "uncleared" peatlands in the two cities. The analysis found that the food farming program was the cause. Loss of 137 hectares (339 ha) of secondary peat bog forest and 96 hectares (237 ha) of protective forest with 2–3 m (6–10 ft) of peat layer in Bilang village. ) in
And although deforestation in other cities does not coincide with the "no-go zones," it still occurs in areas that are part of the broader peatlands, says Agil from Bantau Gambot.
"Even though the government says [the food farming program] is not in a peatland, if we look at it as a complete [landscape], they are still connected because they are in one watershed and one hydrological zone," he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture, which operates several food complexes, denied allegations of deforestation. Director of Land Expansion Baginda Sayajian said the agriculture-food program of the Ministry of Agriculture in Central Kalimantan had been carefully planned. He said the government had drawn up a series of maps to ensure that vulnerable and protected ecosystems such as forests, peat bogs and deep peat bogs were not included in the AFP areas.
"Therefore, food complex processes do not disrupt natural ecosystems and cause deforestation," Baginda told Mongabay.
program failure?
Accountability is necessary to restore degraded landscapes, says Adrianus Erkan, head of the forest and land department at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), a Jakarta-based think tank. He added that the question of who should lead is particularly important because the food security program is showing signs of failure.
An investigation by Pantau Gambut, Walhi Central Kalimantan and BBC Indonesia in March 2022 and February 2023 found that cassava plants in Tewai Baru village had died, the plants were stunted and the tubers were stunted. The investigation also found seven abandoned rigs that are no longer operational.
Another investigation by Kaom Telopak last year found that about half of the food farms in Ria Ria village in North Sumatra had been abandoned. Caoem Telopak attributes this to various technical constraints, including a lack of time for farmers to plant potato and corn crops to meet a harvest deadline set by the government.
Local farmers told Kaoem Telapak that the government has also built irrigation canals irregularly and as a result many of them are no longer functional.
"If a food country is not achieving maximum results, or even fails based on a number of criteria, the project needs to be reconsidered," ICEEL's Adrianus wrote in The Conversation. The permit holder must rehabilitate unstable land into forests with greater environmental benefits. The surrounding communities could manage the abandoned lands for their livelihood.
His Majesty again denied the accusation that the program had failed.
"Based on the data we've collected from the field, the intensification of farmer-managed land [focusing on increasing yields] is ongoing and yielding very good results," he said.
This story is published with permission from Mongabay.com.
