Indonesia Govt Plans to Intensify Shrimp Farming
10/26/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Indonesia to Intensify Shrimp Farming
Source: Third World Network Features
http://www.twnside.org.sg
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 26, 1999
Byline: Raja Siregar
The Indonesian government's plan to drastically increase the
country's shrimp production will require massive land developments
that will destroy mangrove forests and marginalise local shrimp
farmers, who have protested the new policy.
The Indonesian government is planning to drastically increase its
shrimp production in the next few years by converting 320,000
hectares of new land into shrimp farms. The plan will transform
Indonesia's traditional shrimp farming into a modern, intensive
system that will produce 13 times the current volume of shrimp.
The massive land developments required to reach these targets will
destroy mangrove forests and marginalise local shrimp farmers, who
have protested the new policy. In response to this impending crisis,
FoE Indonesia (WALHI) is focusing on a major shrimp-farming campaign.
In 1995, a viral disease destroyed most of Indonesia's shrimp
production. The disease was endemic to the shrimp farms of the North
Java coast, the first and biggest intensive shrimp farm in Indonesia.
The virus then spread to other regions and, within a few years, had
sharply decreased shrimp production in Indonesia. Today only 10% of
shrimp-farming locations are still in operation.
The Indonesian Agricultural Department plans to turn things around by
doubling the land coverage for shrimp farming in the next few years.
The plan, Protekan 2003 (Programme to Increase Exports of Fisheries),
would increase revenue from the fisheries sector to US$10 billion by
2003. Of that figure, an estimated US$6.78 billion would derive from
shrimp exports, and shrimp export volume would increase to
approximately 677,800 tonnes. Indonesia currently exports
approximately 50,000 tonnes of shrimp per year and uses 360,000
hectares of land for shrimp farming.
How will the Protekan 2003 targets be realised? The Indonesian
government will carry out its intensification method in 17 provinces
and undertake expansions in 25 provinces. The government and big
capital investors prefer intensive shrimp production because it
provides certainty in volume production and control over production
processing.
This intensive form of shrimp farming is concentrated in the large
shrimp farms on the south coast of Sumatra island. There are three
major activities in that region. Charone Poppand owns major shrimp
operations there and also in Aceh. The Ministry of Food and
Horticculture has announced that th government will adopt this type
of arrangement when they officially launch a new large shrimp farm in
Lampung.
These changes come at a great cost to the environment and require the
destruction of mangrove forests. Fifty per cent of the world's
mangrove forests have been destroyed and up to half that loss is due
to shrimp farming.
The plan's harmful impact on shrimp-farming communities is equally
distressing. Large and intensive shrimp-farming operations use
farmers merely as a part of the production machine, rather than as
partners. The owner or company is the main controller during every
stage of production.
Land to be used for shrimp production is often taken away from
mangrove forests or from villagers by force and physical violence.
Farmers have used these lands as guarantees to get bank credits, and
were promised complete ownership of their properties after completing
their credit payments in full. Now, after running their farms for
several years, none of these farmers have been given rightful
ownership of their land. In fact, farmers have never received clear
information about the details and developments of their agreements.
Indonesia's shrimp-farming policies have sparked two riots on large
shrimp farms in South Sumatra (PT. Wahyuni Mandira) and in Lampung
(PT. Dipasena Citra D). The conflicts caused mass arson and
vandalism, and hundreds of farmers were evicted and several
imprisoned. Will this policy, which ignores the reformation spirit in
Indonesia, take other victims? - Third World Network Features
-ends-
About the writer: Raja Siregar is with Friends of the Earth Indonesia
(FoE Indonesia).
The above article first appeared in Link (July/August/September
1999).
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