Kimpraswil

In cooperation with

Rijkswaterstaat

Policy Decisions and Discussion

All natural forest lands are presently under a high pressure for development. That is not only caused by an increased population. The areas are also under attack because people, companies and government see opportunities for higher incomes.

Nearly all rice in Indonesia is produced on Java island, one of the most densely populated rice growing areas of the world. Near the cities the pressure on the rice land is high. Another problem is that the small land holdings on Java island makes increasingly rice an un-attractive crop for income generation for farmers.

To become competitive, the rice cultivation will be more mechanized in the future and will grow for a major part outside Java in the Tidal Lowlands.  

Indonesia can fulfill their need for increased rice production for the next 20 years in the existing reclaimed swamp areas. There is no need to reclaim new areas. This choice should have a priority over alternatives as gravity irrigated rice fields and making dams and reservoirs

To develop Tidal Lowlands however, there is a need to have a clear policy how the already occupied lands in the Lowlands should be used to minimize the negative effects on environment and encourage the diversification. Also there is a high need for a policy how degraded land should be treated. That depends on the local conditions and physical characteristics. Discussions would be required how to approach these problems in the different regions.

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FAQ 2: Why are most Tidal Lowland Schemes still so little developed when they have such a good potential for rice production?

Technical Problems. There are difficult soil problems and environmental problems  in the Tidal lowlands. In the recent past these problems were not well understood. The knowledge problem for new technologies is a major limitation for progress at a larger scale.

Several Problems occur in the Tidal Lowland Schemes:

• Lower yields than expected; soils are not well matured yet

• Related to this problem, a severe lack of labour and investments

• Different types of problems; the most important:

  • Lack of good credit facilities,

  • Inadequate infrastructure

  • No On-Farm Water Management system

  • No or little land preparation when planting rice.

  • Bad quality rice by lack of good post-harvest management facilities

  • Pests and diseases

  • Land property problems

• Inadequate operation & maintenance

A successful implementation of the required technology is an integrated effort, most important presently at farmers level. it is only the combined effort which makes the input economically viable for the farmer.

In fact Tidal Swamp development is a high technology investment. High yields will also make the investments of the water control system feasible and sustainable.

FAQ 3: Why are swamps suitable for mechanization in comparison with many gravity irrigated areas.

The main advantage is the size of the rice fields, which is 1 Ha and farmers own in most cases 2 Ha in the Tidal Lowland Schemes. There is a tendency that they own even larger fields in the Lowlands. In most irrigated areas on Java the farmers own not more than 0.5 Ha and often their fields are even much smaller. In many gravity irrigated rice fields outside Java the conditions are not much better. In that case mechanization favors very much the Tidal Lowlands for rice cultivation with the present low farm-gate rice prices. A pre-condition is however that yields must increase

Comparison with Australian conditions. On the Web it appears that Australian conditions and objectives for the control of acidity from acid sulfate soils are different from those in Indonesia. An Australian computer model, made to control acidity in sugarcane fields, worries mainly on acidity released to the canals. Completely different from the objectives in Indonesia, where the acidity release to canals and the environment is a limited problem which also can be solved permanently by one-way flow by gate operation. The reason of the difference of approach is not clear for us, certainly when you realise that the Australian approach for minimum disturbance for agricultural fields means that the problem will never be solved. Completely different from the Dutch approach. In Holland there are no problems  with acid sulfate soils anymore and these previous problem soils belong now to the best agricultural soils of the country.  Anyhow Computer simulation of Indonesian conditions (Suryadi,1996) shows also that leaching during land preparation for rice cultivation and flushing the canals by the tides will be in most cases sufficient to control acidity.

Suryadi, 1996, Soil and Water Management Strategies for Tidal Lowlands in Indonesia. PhD. TU Delft, IHE. Balkema , Rotterdam