Deputy Minister of State-owned Enterprises, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, announced plans to extend the food estate program by planting sugarcanes in South Papua at the end of February 2024. This project will use 2 million hectares of land, with the first stage of it using 60 thousand hectares.
Albeit, this plan is not without scrutiny. Satya Bumi, an NGO, states that this sugarcane food estate is a false solution for food security. Executive Director of Satya Bumi, Andi Muttaqien, said that from his experience, no food estates had ever achieved success in Indonesia.
“Deforestation and environmental destruction rates have risen because of these projects,” Andi said in a written explanation received by Tangkasi.id, Tuesday (5/3/2024).
This project, he says, has the potential to be counterproductive with the original aim of the food estate which is food security. The planned sugarcane production will be used to fulfill plant based fuel needs, such as bioethanol. This means, its goal isn’t only for “food” but also the energy industry.
This push for plant-based fuel, like biodiesel, bioethanol, and bioavtur that is subsidized will peak the interest of producers will not only be done by president Jokowi but also the president-elect.
This pattern reminds us of the hodgepodge palm oil management that led to the scarcity of cooking oil in 2022. It is not impossible, in later practice, that the sugarcane production will be used more for energy needs than food needs.
“With that, the scarcity and major increase in sugar price will bound to happen, if the management and distribution of sugarcanes for food and energy needs are not managed well since the start,” Andi adds.
Apart from that, the production of bioethanol from sugarcane has waste potential. According to Huang et al (2020), sugarcane can generate 17 tons of residue per hectare. With the initial land use of 60 thousand hectares, it is predicted to generate around 1.020 tons of waste. This of course majorly impacts the environment, because in Indonesia, sugarcane waste disposal is done primarily by burning.
The failure of the food estate in Kalimantan is also something worth noting. It is predicted that the same will happen in South Papua. The opening of an area 30 times wider than DKI Jakarta in the Papuan forest would lead to major environmental destruction, without any guarantee of food security.
“The government should reevaluate the food estate project and not push for deforestation based on ambitions alone,” Andi said.
He added that the ambition of the project was seen with the issuance of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.24/Menlhk/Setjen/Kum.1/10/2020 on the Provision of Forest Areas for Food Estate Development. This P.24 document was issued due to the lack of non-forest areas for food estate development.
“This regulation was made because of the lack of non-forest areas, so we have to sacrifice forest areas to build food estates. This regulation will actually legalize deforestation, because it will open new land and there is no guarantee that this project will not damage the environment. Deforestation will have an impact on the climate crisis that is being faced by the global world,” said Andi.
It should also be noted that the food estate project in South Papua did not learn from the failure of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) project, which was implemented under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2010. The project destroyed Papuans’ sago crops and led to land conflicts between indigenous communities and corporations.
The planned development of a food estate project in South Papua, although announced as a solution to food security, raises major questions regarding environmental impacts and the possibility of land conflicts that could recur. In response to this, criticism of government policies in managing natural resources is becoming increasingly urgent. (*)