The Indonesian government’s plan to develop a food estate in Papua has come in for heavy criticism for potentially marginalizing small farmers and threatening the environment, writes IRINnews.
The government hopes the 1.6 million hectare Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate in Merauke District will turn Indonesia into one of the world’s biggest food producers.
Some 36 local and foreign companies have expressed interest and the government will provide the infrastructure necessary, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said.
Crops to be grown include rice, sugar cane, soya beans and maize, he said.
NGOer KRITISKE
NGO activists have rejected the plan, saying the estate could bring more harm than benefit to the local population.
– Food is not just a commercial commodity but is also a basic human right, and leaving food provision to the private sector can hinder people’s access to food because corporations are driven by profit, Elisha Kartini, an activist from the Indonesian Farmer Union (SPI), told IRIN.
Indonesia’s leading environmental group, Walhi, warned that the project would amount to a land grab and cause local farmers to suffer because they would be unable to compete with major corporations.
FATTIGT OMRÅDE
The Papua region, comprising most of the western half of the island of New Guinea, is divided into two provinces – Papua and West Papua.
They are the poorest of Indonesia’s 32 provinces, with 35 percent of its 2.6 million inhabitants living below the poverty line, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, against a national poverty rate of 14.15 percent in 2009.
