The location in Gunung Mas with cassava commodities is managed by the Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, the locations in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas with rice commodities are managed by the Agriculture Ministry.
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Kompas Team
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KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO
Workers are active in the food estate program in Form Jaya Village, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan, on Wednesday (21/4/2021).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The food estate project in Central Kalimantan is prepared to respond to national food needs and is expected to replace the traditional farming system that has been prohibited. However, the findings in the field show various problems faced by this national strategic project that can become a source of new problems.
Kompas recent findings between Jul. 15 and 28 ranges from cassava fields that looked neglected in Tawai Baru Village, Gunung Mas Regency, to fertilizers and dolomite lime that were left piled up on the roadside at the location of new paddy fields in a number of villages in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas regencies. These three regencies are locations for food estate development.
The location in Gunung Mas with cassava commodities is managed by the Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, the locations in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas with rice commodities are managed by the Agriculture Ministry.
Cassava planting in Gunung Mas is carried out by clearing up 31,000 hectares of forest and community plantations. Around 600 ha of land has been cleared and planted since March 2021.
"Previously the area was a forest, but the farmers would not plant there because the soil is sandy and it would be difficult to grow plants," said Arung, secretary of Tawai Baru Village.
On Sunday (Jul 24), Kompas visited the food estate in Tawai Baru. Cassava plants that were more than a year old looked thin and unkempt. There were no workers and the heavy equipment that previously cleared the land looked idle.
According to Ida Bagus, there is an infrastructure budget from the Public Works and Housing Ministry.
Special Assistant for Food Security to the defense minister, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ida Bagus Purwalaksana said the cassava food estate was not maintained because there was no budget to maintain the plants. According to Ida Bagus, there is an infrastructure budget from the Public Works and Housing Ministry.
"The problem is that there is no presidential regulation on food estate for (the Defense Ministry), which includes management of the budget. There is no allocation of funds to maintain the cassava," said Ida Bagus.
Siti Maimunah, a lecturer and researcher from the Yogyakarta Agricultural Institute said in Palangkaraya on Monday (Aug. 29) that this location is actually not suitable for food crops because the soil is sandy or commonly called kerangas. "This is highly unsuitable [for cassava]. Soil like this is suitable for conservation, it does not produce results for plants," she said.
KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO
President Joko Widodo arrives at Form Jaya Village, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan, on Thursday (9/7/2020).
In addition to land suitability issues, this project also has the potential to trigger disputes with residents. According to Arung, there are five villages that refuse to clear land for cassava food estate because about 2,000 ha of the 31,000 ha of land that will be cleared are in the form of farm areas and even residents' houses.
However, when the land clearing was carried out in 2020, the land designated by the KLHK was in a different condition from the one stated on paper.
Ida Bagus said that it is unproductive for the Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK) to designate the forest land for the food estate. “This includes 2,000 ha of land. However, when the land clearing was carried out in 2020, the land designated by the KLHK was in a different condition from the one stated on paper. The main problem was the overlapping of data,” he said.
Ida Bagus added that the 2,000 ha land has a release permit from the KLHK. However, in 2020, when the land was about to be worked on, the regent informed him that some of the land had been managed by the community and some were certified.
Developing new paddy fields
Various challenges were also found in the food estate program managed by the Agriculture Ministry. According to the plan, the initial phase of this project will work on 30,160 ha of former peatland clearing projects (PLG) in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas for land intensification or increased production in existing paddy fields.
The government is converting farm areas/forests into new rice fields. The total area of land for the initial stage is 16,000 ha, according to data from the Food Crops, Horticulture and Livestock Office of Central Kalimantan province. This is also the case in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas.
POLDA KALTENG
A tractor is ready to harvest rice in the Belanti Siam field, the location of a food estate in Central Kalimantan, on Wednesday (19/8/2020).
Director of Land Expansion and Protection of the Agriculture Ministry Erwin Noorwibowo said that based on reports from the Central Kalimantan Agriculture Office, rice cultivation through land intensification in 2020 and 2021 will increase the production of unhusked rice.
Based on observations, planting three times a year in Belanti Siam and Gadabung, Pulang Pisau should not be carried out. The Agriculture Ministry argued that the majority of farmers' land was affected by extreme climate change. (AIK/IDO/DIT/EDN)
