The Agricultural Stance Coalition has rejected the government’s plan to establish a food estate in Merauke, Papua. According to them, the plan sounds reckless and letting the people of Indonesia become slaves in their own country.
"We request the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to conduct an independent study on the impact of MIFEE and other similar businesses to Indigenous Peoples in Merauke and around the world."
Indonesia will require investors in food crop production to get local government permission before developing farms or estates in order to prevent land disputes.
Plans for a US$6 billion food estate in the Merauke region of West Papua has been attacked by farmer and environmental organisations as a land grab that would destroy 2 million hectares of virgin forest.
The Indonesian government plans to create a vast agricultural estate in the restive province of Papua, sparking fears of environmental destruction and a return of mass migration policies.
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.
A planned large-scale food production system in Merauke, Papua province, aimed at improving national food sustainability, could prove detrimental for locals, an activist says.
"If the government wants to eliminate famine, it should give farmers access to more land, and not give it away for corporations"
En un momento en el que la seguridad alimentaria del mundo se está convirtiendo en una cuestión prioritaria, las inmensas tierras aptas para la agricultura en los países emergentes atraen la atención de los inversores. Países como Brasil, Argentina, Ucrania, Rusia, Kazajastán, Sudán, Malawi, Angola, Indonesia, Laos o Camboya se encuentran entre los preferidos de los inversionistas.
"At an UNCTAD meeting on investment in agriculture on February 3, China became the central focus of criticism amid a chorus of concerns about the economic, food security, environmental and social impact of large foreign purchases of agricultural lands in developing countries," reports the US mission to Geneva
Educating the peasant movement is a key to genuine land reform implementation and the position of peasant movements as strong political bases against land grabbing in the future.