Indonesia

A possible cooperation between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia on the so-called food estate program in Papua, which spans around 2 million hectares, is beginning to take shape as talks continue. Elite Agro -- an Emirati agriculture giant -- was among the companies that the Indonesian government had been negotiating with.

The Indonesian Ministry of Investment is planning to transform the Food Estate in Merauke, South Papua, into an integrated sugar industry hub.

Indonesia's new president is literally flooding Papua with new military troops to provide security at a 2 million-hectare food plantation being carved out of jungle outside of Merauke.

Le Syndicat des paysan.nes indonésien.nes (SPI) a organisé une action de masse au siège de la police nationale indonésienne et au bureau du groupe Wilmar à Jakarta pour condamner l’accaparement récent des terres, la répression ainsi que les actions unilatérales de PT Permata Hijau Pasaman I du groupe Wilmar, bénéficiant de la protection de la police

The new program “PSN Merauke”, being implemented at a high speed, might become the biggest deforestation project worldwide, is overlapping with customary lands and will directly affect 40,000 indigenous people.

This article and podcast tell the story of women's resistance to oil palm plantations, REDD and a large-scale project for food production (Food Estate) in three villages in Central Kalimantan.

PT Inecda, a Samsung subsidiary, violated the RSPO sustainability standards by failing to obtain consent from an Indigenous community in Sumatra before clearing more than 5,000 hectares of forests for palm oil plantations.

A total of 2 million hectares of forests, wetlands and grasslands in Merauke, Papua province will be razed to make way for a cluster of giant sugarcane plantations. Five consortiums, consisting of Indonesian and foreign companies, are confirmed to be participating in the 130 trillion rupiah ($8.4 billion) project.

"Baladna (a Qatari company) is willing to help us in the free nutritious meal programme by investing in dairy farming in Indonesia to meet our milk needs," says Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman.

The Ministry is engaging with private investors and international partners. Recent discussions include an investor from the Middle East seeking 20,000 hectares and interest from China and Vietnam for a minimum of 5,000 hectares.

A state-owned palm oil company and an industry association have begun early work to push a vast new plantation strategy in Sulawesi, one of Indonesia’s largest islands. The proposal includes aspirations for production of a form of environmentally friendly fertilizer hope that it will enable producers to apply for climate finance incentives, despite the deforestation implied in the plan.

Since 2010, the unpleasant experience, pain and suffering from the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate program have not ceased and have continued to pile up