Earth Concern

Mr. Muhammad Nur Uddin is API's Secretary General of Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API), one of the largest peasant networks of Indonesia. He was born in Malang, East Java Province, in July 1969. API was established based on the agreement among independent peasant organizations in Java and Sumatra. The urgency of the establishment was based on the necessity of the peasant movement as a pressure power against unjust policies that have marginalized millions of Indonesian peasants’’ lives. Below is the glimpse of his talk with Earth Concern Asia Team on various issues related to peasant movements, livelihoods and climate change in Indonesia.

As a leading Farmer's network how do you see the land distribution system and what are the major land rights issues in Indonesia?

Under the ruling regime at the present, various policies in all classes, sectors, and marginalized groups further exacerbate people suffering economically and politically. In agriculture, general condition of the peasants in Indonesia is still difficult. The main problems of the peasantry such as poverty, land conflicts, famine, and access to production resources have not finished. Peasants from time to time face the threat of land grabbing due to large-scale expansion of corporation, the expansion of mining exploration areas, and forestry products legitimized through legislation, such as the Law of Investment, Agriculture Law, the Law on mining, and forestry law.

Many farmers detained, arrested, and imprisoned, and receive a series of terror acts and intimidation.

The areas of poverty are mostly in the countryside. This is related to agriculture since the poor people in Indonesia who are mostly rural areas are farmers. With the number of poor people reached 17.75 percent, or approximately 39.05 million people (BPS, September 2006), in fact the peasants continue to be marginalized subjects. Poor population in rural areas was higher than in urban areas.

The process of impoverishment of farmers went so fast. The 2003 agricultural census showed narrowing the ownership of farmers' land tenure are ongoing, both caused by the fragmentation of land through inheritance of land and transfer of agricultural land use for various purposes of human life, causing the number of farmer (farmers who controlled the land is less than 0.2 ha / household) increased. At the national level in 1993, the number of farmers was recorded around 10.9 million households, while in 2003 agricultural census the number was increased to approximately 13.7 million households.

Land seizures and evictions of the people is a form of agrarian conflict posed by the violence of capital (Capital Violence). This issue is most prominent and coloring the Indonesian community living in a small space since the people there are in large numbers and with high intensity. Bloody tragedy agrarian conflict dimension of human rights violations came again, both in villages and cities.
How do you see the importance of peasant movement in Indonesia and what are your major demands?

The themes of the major struggles of the peasantry are almost entirely associated with institutions like the World Bank, IMF and WTO. In implementation, these institutions and the state often intervenes subsequently become hegemonic regime in the global constellation. State issued legal products that violate human rights (judicial violence), to carry out privatization, commercialization and capitalization of agrarian resources for the sake of international capital on the basis of an agreement with the World Bank and IMF.

The main demands of peasant movements are performed Agrarian Reform True, the reorganization or restructuring of the ownership, control, and the use of agrarian resources, especially land for the benefit of farmers, farm laborers, and small people or the economically weak as outlined in the Basic Law Agrarian (Undang-undang Pokok Agraria/UUPA) in 1960. The essence of agrarian reform is land reform or land redistribution in all aspects of its supporters.

With the redistribution of land, the people will have more land that could produce a yield greater; in the end farmers will be increased. Increased purchasing power will drive the other economic sectors of national industry that is growing for the domestic market is huge. The increased buying power means increasing people's income. With increased revenue or income people would be very significant in increasing national savings, especially savings of agricultural community. The low national savings for society has led to countries taking shortcuts by relying on foreign debt and foreign investment priority. Increased production of the people as a result of land reform will guarantee the availability of raw materials for the growth of small industries and home industries and even national industry that was built. With the land reform means that the dependence of import of raw materials will also be reduced.
What is the situation of women and land rights?

Women’s participation in development, particularly in agriculture production is actually high, specifically in rice production where women provide 75 percent of the farm labor. Twenty percent of household income and 40 percent of domestic food supplies are provided through kitchen gardens managed by women. Women have major responsibility in agriculture context, as seeds selectors, local rice store, weeding, but this was undermined by green revolution programs. But in land policies and customary law at local context women don’t have rights to the access of land as the customs in many ethnics in Indonesia give it to head of household which is MEN.
In many Asian countries, most of the productive land is controlled by the corporate and business companies, how is the situation in Indonesia?

In Indonesia, every year no less than 120,000 hectares of agricultural land turned into regional industry functions, housing, and agricultural land other than as the exploitation of land and water on a large scale (for example, on Seram Island, Maluku, 25,000 hectares of land was shifted as a function of land producing bio-fuel fuel substitute fossil-based oil company owned by foreigners in Singapore). The transfer of agricultural land use is continuing the policy of the government of Indonesia who faithfully serve the business expansion of large companies (estates, real estate, industry, mining, etc.), although they had to get rid of agricultural land.

For example, Act No.1 of 1967 on Foreign Investment, Act No.4 of 2004 on Water Resources, Keppress (Presidential Decree) No.36 of 2006 and No.65 of 2006 on the Utilization of Land for Public Interest, Law No.18 of 2003 on the Plantation, and the Law No.25 of 2007 on Investment, Law No.27 of 2007 on Management of Coastal Areas and Small Islands, all of them failed to provide protection for agriculture and the food.

In the agrarian field, the government facilitated a large plantation, this, it amplifies the agrarian conflicts between farmers with plantation companies, and oil palm plantations are now actually destroyed, and the bio-fuel program, the food sources used as a source of energy - that can be called as well as agro-fuel just exacerbate the global food crisis and did not overcome the energy crisis.
What is the food security situation in the country and who are the major victims?

Indonesia is an agrarian country. But Indonesia was now dependent on food imports (food net importer) for a number of commodities. In the last decade (1996-2005), Indonesian foreign exchange spent at least Rp.14, 7 trillion per year to import food.

Rice is the staple food of most of the people of Indonesia. However, agricultural trade liberalization policy through the World Trade Organization (AoA/Agreement on Agriculture in the WTO) has put the rice on world markets just as a mere commodity trade. This situation is aggravated by the game of speculation and investment on rice prices. Under the Agreement of Agriculture (AoA), government subsidies should be removed to create the rice trade more efficient. However, food prices become very unstable and higher than the demand and actual supply.

Meanwhile, the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) under the pressure letter of intent (LoI) IMF, should be privatized. Therefore, Bulog no longer have the authority to monopolize trade and control the price of rice, so that this body is only 7% controlling domestic rice trade, the remaining 93% is controlled by the private sector (foreign companies).

Large scale rice production (rice industry) which rely heavily on chemical inputs has become commonplace, the concentration of control over inputs of rice, production, consumption, and distribution to a handful of multinational companies. In contrast, in this trading system, farmers as producers and consumers do not get much less benefit protection. Farmer exchange rate is very low, caused by: 1) high production costs, 2) in many cases, the private sector bought dry milled grain from farmers under the government purchase price, 3) a flood of cheap rice imports, duty-free imports and subsidies from government, 4) non-farm product price more higher than the price of agricultural products.

Rice crisis in 1998, followed by shortages of milk, cooking oil, and wheat flour in 2007 and the return of the rice crisis in 2008 was the result of food policy that subjected to market mechanisms.

The most affected by this situation are the small people (the poor), including women who mastered the knowledge of the selection of rice seeds, crop maintenance, harvesting, processing and distribution in rice, but then rice is excluded by the industry. The poor and hungry, people who suffer from diseases related to lack of food increase sharply in number since the government implemented trade liberalization, and the women and children occupy a large amount in the number of people who are food shortages.
As many Indonesians are dependent on agriculture, forestry and coastel community economies how do you see potential risk from climate change?

The impact of climate change has been experienced by farmers and fishermen in Indonesia since the last few years. For example, changes in growing season (changing and confusing), water scarce, and the emergence of pests and diseases that increase production costs and lower yields. Whereas before the phenomenon of climate change, farmers (women)have for centuries to understand the nature and natural behavior, so they know when it will rain, when the drought came, and when it is appropriate for certain types of plants planted. They read the cues of plants and insects, the signs of wind and sun and made to hold in farming. From the field, farmers have experiences that they have to deal with the change of the planting season since they have to be exact to calculate the harvest, it is important that they have to allocate many tons as the food stock (20 million ton per year) for many purposes (disaster, lack of food, drought, climate change, etc).

Meanwhile, fishermen are also affected by the changing seasons and the winds that affect the work and their catches.

So, various groups are vulnerable to climate change in different ways, due to various constraints each live with, including their unique personal needs, local and regional circumstances, etc., and the impact that climate change has on everyone's lives cannot be diminished. However, women are commonly subjected to social, political and economic inequality and discrimination and it is this inequality that places many women at higher risks of the negative impacts of climate change. For instance preference for male children and discrimination against female children, place girls' health and mortality at higher risk during droughts or famines in areas where boys' nutritional and survival needs are prioritized. And while circumstances differ, evidence and case studies bear out that mortality rates due to disasters and post-disaster events, such as the spread of disease, are more equitable in countries with higher levels of gender equality. Conversely, inequality places women and girls at higher risk.
Is the climate change and agriculture on your top agenda, what are your missions and major demands?

Climate change and agriculture issues require social mobilization on multiple fronts. There is no one size fits all solution for this, neither the silver bullet to tackle this problem. The priorities of states, institutions and multi-stake holders including private sectors need to be responsible on this issue.
Do you think this is high time to mobilize farmers to know more about climate change and take collective actions to address the impact and to put pressure to the policy making processes?

As farmer’s organization, API is driven for positive change and contributes to the vast portfolio of strategies needed to address this issue. Farmers (men and women) empowerment reaps benefits across the climate-related terrain: in ecological health, food security, disaster preparedness and increased community resiliency to natural disasters, communities and countries. The stakes are higher if we not empower farmers and ensure they are equal actors and benefactors (women, men, and children) in order to truly mitigate and cope up with climate change.

Date: May 1st, 2010.

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