News of progress on the massive Merauke food estate in Papua indicates growing momentum behind Indonesia’s attempts to boost its agricultural output through promoting investment and harnessing technology.
Some projects aimed at increasing food production in Asia have been dropped or delayed amid the financial crisis, notes a new report by IRRI and the Asia Society.
AGRA paper on land grabbing in Indonesia, during the period 2004-2010, for food and agrofuels production (in Bahasa Indonesia only).
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his ministry received a proposal to make use of 500,000 hectare areas for the 1.6-million-hectare food and energy estate projects planned in Merauke, Papua.
Company "currently assessing the quality of the land."
No-one should be surprised when people start describing the Merauke Integrated Rice Estate as a clear case of genocide by the Indonesian government, because it has been well-planned and well-organised.
7 Perusahaan besar siap memulai kegiatan
US agribusiness group Bunge Ltd is actively scouting out for palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia to cater to rising demand from Asian economies
"We have Indonesians and Malaysians coming in and saying we want 100,000 hectares to make PNG a rice producing country," says PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu
In Merauke, over 1000 people marched to the regional legislature to present their demands, and rallied against the failure of Special Autonomy to protect indigenous people, particularly in regard to the planned 80 million-hectare Merauke Food Estate.
Communities throughout Indonesia are losing land to companies seeking to profit from the booming palm oil industry.
Wilmar, which already owns 200,000 ha of sugar cane plantations in Indonesia, said it intended to use Sucrogen’s proven expertise in the sugar business to pursue growth strategies in “Indonesia and other high potential Asian markets.’’