SANGATA, East Kalimantan: The rapid expansion of palm oil plantations and mining operations in East Kutai district in East Kalimantan has resulted in some 800 hectares of farmland falling into neglect as farmers opt to work in palm oil and mining, Jakarta Globe reported.
Hormansyah, the secretary of the district chapter of the National Food Security Agency, said on Monday that the 800 hectares of formerly productive farmland have within two years turned into unproductive land as farmers moved toward more financially rewarding jobs.
“This took place in Selangkau village in the subdistrict of Kaliorang. There are 800 hectares of rice fields that are now unproductive land. They were worked by 500 farmers in the past, but all of them became workers of the companies,” Hormansyah said.
“Our data is just for one subdistrict and we have not even looked at others,” he added. “There must be similar cases.”
He said that working for palm oil plantations or mining companies gave them regular salaries, while as farmers and had to wait for months for harvests to get income.
Hormansyah said his office was intensifying the work of its field officers to encourage local farmers to continue to work on their land and that the government would also provide subsidies for fertilizers and seeds.
He also expressed doubt that a government program to set up a food and rice estate in the area could succeed.
East Kalimantan Governor Awang Farouk Ishak wants the province to become self-sufficient in food by 2014, including by establishing food and rice estates across the province.
Hormansyah said conditions in the neighboring Penajam Paser and Nunukan districts were similar. In North Penajam Paser, he said, local farm groups had to recruit farmers from Java to harvest their land, adding to their costs. In Nunukan, the threat to farming came from seaweed, which fetched far higher prices than rice.