Hans Nikolaus Yong
© MongabayJAKARTA -- When Indonesia launched its Mega Rice project in the mid-1990s, it cleared vast tracts of forest for farmland, particularly the Kalimantan peatlands, only to abandon the plan when it discovered the carbon-rich peatlands were a poor place for rice cultivation. .
Fast forward to today, and the government is repeating the same madness with an almost identical food-on-card scheme, according to various reports of forest loss linked to the scheme.
The Indonesian government's program of establishing large-scale agricultural plantations across the country has reportedly resulted in the loss of forests, including vulnerable peatlands.
A recent spatial analysis by wetland manager Pantau Gambut found that more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of forest were cleared in Central Kalimantan province. The greatest forest loss was recorded in Tewai Baru village in Gunung Mas district, where 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of forest was cleared for cassava plantations under the Food Land Tenure Scheme.
This is consistent with another 2022 analysis by Greenpeace Indonesia, which found that 760 hectares (1,880 acres) of forest had been cleared in Gunung Mas since November 2020.
Deforestation for the Food Ownership Program is also taking place in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. An investigation by the NGO Kaoem Telapak in July 2022 found that the village of Ulu Merah in North Sumatra province is being deforested to clear 500 hectares (1,240 acres).
A spatial analysis using data from Global Forest Watch showed that by September 2022 at least 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest had been cleared.
According to Kaom Telopak, the forest in this area is home to protected species such as the Sumatran tiger ( Panthera tigris scopaica ) and the sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ).
© MongabayLand cleared for food program in Kapuas District, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Walhi Kalimantan Central.
"Who wouldn't be angry? the forest disappeared
Rangkap, a resident of Tewai Baru village, said the forest that was cut down there meant a lot to the Dayak indigenous people. The forest provides the wood they use to build their houses, the wild boar and rabbits they hunt, and the plants they collect for traditional medicine.
“We Dayaks used to go there. Now it looks like a field. Who isn't angry?” Rangkapa was quoted as saying by BBC Indonesia. "The forest is gone. No cassava [harvest]. who suffers people suffer."
Another villager, Epel Luns, 69, said his land had been turned into an agricultural plantation without his consent under a land tenure system.
"My land, about 3 hectares [7.4 hectares], which is part of the program, was farmed by them directly without consultation [with me]," Pantov was quoted as saying by Gambut. "Not even compensation."
According to Tewai-Baru village chief Shigo, flooding in the village increased after the forest was cleared. In the past, the flood level only reached 50 centimeters. But now the amount of flooding has tripled.
Dion Noel, a villager who lives on the banks of the river, said his home was flooded after two hours of heavy rain.
"This flood hurts us," he said. “Especially when the floods happen at night. It's time to go to bed and there's water in it.
Dion and others called for the forest to be restored.
According to Greenpeace Indonesia, which also investigated the food program in Tewai Baru, the flooding was exacerbated by loss of vegetation in recently cleared areas, leading to accelerated runoff of stormwater due to loss of sandy soil.
The problem extends to nearby wetlands and rivers, where a combination of thick sediment and woody debris from land reclamation is blocking water flow and further exacerbating flooding.
Forests cleared for cassava plantations are also home to Borneo orangutans ( Pongo pygmaeus ), according to Bayu Herinat, director of the Central Kalimantan branch of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi). The great ape is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, and nearly 150,000 Borneo orangutans died between 1999 and 2015, mostly due to deforestation and killing.
"There [the clearing] is one of the areas with good forest cover and it is a corridor for orangutans," Bayu was quoted as saying by BBC Indonesia.
Pantav Gambut also discovered that Tewai Baru was earmarked for the government's social forestry program as of 2019, meaning the forest should be left untouched for community management.
One of the largest social-ecological 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 forests.
The fact that the food ownership program coincides with the forestry social map means the program threatens local people's land rights, said Agiel Prakosa, research director at Pantau Gambut.
"The question is, what will the government's priorities be?" [Because] the social forestry program is also a government priority,” he told Mongabay.
© MongabayAn abandoned excavator sinks at a food farm in Mantangai Hulu village, Kapuas region, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Walhi Kalimantan Central.
Remove "forbidden" swamps.
Pantau Gambut's analysis also found that the food ownership program is destroying bogs, despite government promises that the program will protect and conserve this important ecosystem.
Conservationists caution that this is a particular concern given the important role peatlands play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Hectare after acre, peatlands store 20 times more carbon than rainforests or mineral soils and are home to rich biodiversity.
Indonesia's World Resources Institute (WRI) states that self-sufficiency programs should avoid areas with peat layers greater than 1 meter (3 feet) as they are intense carbon sinks and are less suitable for cultivation. He also recommends avoiding peatlands with primary and secondary forest cover, as clearing this vegetation can release 62.25 tons of CO2 per hectare per year, the equivalent of burning more than 26,000 liters of fuel.
The Food Ownership Program should also avoid peat areas that the government has classified as protected, according to WRI Indonesia. All of these types of wetlands should be "no-go areas" for the program, he said.
However, spatial analysis of Pantau Gambut using GFW GLAD Alert data revealed a loss of 233 hectares (576 acres) of forest in restricted peatlands in two villages between January and October 2022. The analysis showed that the food farm program exceeded the Loss of 137 ha (339 ha) of secondary peat swamp forest in Pilang village and 96 ha (237 ha) of protected forest with a peat cover of 2–3 m (6–10 m).
And while deforestation in other villages doesn't overlap with the "exclusion zone," it still occurs in areas that are part of the broader moorland landscape, says Pantau Gambut's Agiel.
"Although the government has said that [the food ownership system] is not in the peatland, if we look at it [the landscape] as a whole, it's still connected because it's in the watershed and hydrological zone of the peatland," he said.
The Department of Agriculture, which oversees several food plantations, has denied allegations of deforestation. Ministry of Land Expansion Director Baginda Siyagian said the ministry's program of owning land for food in Central Kalimantan has been carefully planned. He said the government has produced a series of maps to ensure vulnerable and protected ecosystems such as forests, swamps and deep bogs do not fall under the food ownership scheme.
"Therefore, food farm operations do not disturb natural ecosystems or cause deforestation," Bagindo told Mongabay.
© MongabayDried cassava tubers at a food farm in Tewai Baru village, Gunung Mas district, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Walhi Kalimantan Central.
A failed program?
Adrianus Erian, head of forestry and land affairs for the Jakarta-based think tanks Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), says responsibility for restoring degraded landscapes is needed. The question of who should be held accountable is critical as food ownership programs have shown signs of failing, he added.
An investigation by Pantau Gambut, Walhi Central Kalimantan and BBC Indonesia in March 2022 and February 2023 found that the cassava plantations in Tewai Baru village have dried up, the plants are stunted and the tubers are small. The investigation also found seven abandoned bulldozers that are no longer operational.
Another survey conducted by Kaom Telopak last year found that about half of the food plantations in Ria Ria village in North Sumatra province have been abandoned. Kaom Telopak attributed this to various technical problems, including a lack of time for farmers to plant potatoes and corn to meet government mandated harvest deadlines.
Local farmers told Kaoem Telapak that the government was also lax in building irrigation canals and many of them stopped working as a result.
“If the food farmland is not achieving maximum results, [or even] is deemed not to meet a number of criteria, the project should be reassessed,” wrote ICEL's Adrianus in The Conversation. “The permit holder must rehabilitate the failed land to convert it into a forest with greater environmental benefits. Surrounding communities can manage abandoned land to support their livelihood.”
Her Majesty again denied claims that the program had failed.
"Based on the data we collected on the ground, farmland intensification [to increase productivity] is continuing and yielding quite well," he said.
Banner image: An area cleared for cassava plantations under the Food Tenure Scheme in Tewai Baru Village, Gunung Mas District, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Walhi Kalimantan Central.
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This article was originally published on Mongabay
