New
president and wetland data
Iswadi ;
The head of evaluation and reporting on food crops
statistics,
the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)
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JAKARTA
POST, 13 Juli 2014
Food
sovereignty has been an issue addressed by the two candidates in the 2014
presidential election.
The
issue is stated clearly in their vision statements. Candidate pair Prabowo
Subianto-Hatta Rajasa promise to open up 2 million hectares (ha) of wetland
rice fields if elected. A similar initiative has also been announced by the
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Jusuf Kalla candidate pair, which will open up 1 million
ha of wetland area outside Java if elected.
Indonesians
should understand that wetland area data is the baseline in validating data
on harvested areas, the main variable used in food production forecasts in
the country besides productivity. However, the mystery of wetland area data
in Indonesia has not been revealed.
The
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has been a safeguard for years and has been
accidently responsible for wetland area data that was not produced by the
institution. Since 1973, area data, including planted areas, harvested areas
and land use data, have been collected by the District Agriculture Service.
The BPS has only been responsible for data processing and dissemination.
A
government regulation in 2012 clearly stated that the sustainable
agricultural land information system was under the National Land Agency’s
(BPN) responsibility. In addition, the BPS is only responsible for providing
basic information on human resources and social economic data such as
population, farmer families, farmer organizations and related rural
organizations.
Up
to 2011, land use data is collected based on “inheritance” data from one
enumerator to its successor. Data was collected based on the land status,
which could be assumed to be not very different from real land use.
However,
after government decentralization, land status is no longer the same as land
use. Most local governments are reluctant to change wetland status due to
several hidden reasons such as the unsuccessful image of agricultural
programs, budget cuts and discounted subsidies for their district.
On
the other hand, the history of data is not inherited perfectly from one
enumerator to its successor. Consequently, data recorded by the new
enumerator is unexplainable and is without a sound collection methodology.
The
wetland area data series shows that wetland areas in Indonesia increased from
7.74 million ha in 2005 to 8.10 million ha in 2011. The positive trend that
occurred both in Java and outside Java is hardly acceptable, considering the
high expansion of new housing and urban facilities that reduced the wetland
area.
The
latest data available is the preliminary figure of wetland area from the BPS,
which estimated the wetland area in 2012 to be as much as 8.13 million ha,
consisting of 3.44 million ha of wetland areas in Java and 4.69 million ha of
wetland areas outside Java.
The
data was compiled through land mapping called land audit, conducted by the
Agriculture Ministry using high resolution satellite imagery with the
adoption of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing
technology.
Despite
the sound and scientific methodology of data collection, it’s not easy to
persuade local governments to openly accept the data, especially District
Agriculture Services, which get lower acreage than the previous data.
The
refusal is triggered by strong concerns about wetland area reduction impacts
on food production data. In fact, wetland areas are closely correlated to
food production data in a district.
Without
doing anything, rice production will be corrected negatively by 50 metric
tons if the wetland area is corrected by minus 10 ha. On the other hand, districts with higher
wetland area data will fully accept the land audit result.
Besides
the data refusal, another obvious problem is the sustainability of the satellite
imagery update. The GIS and remote sensing method are costly and very time
consuming. It is still uncertain who will update the data. It is sad that
land data collection will go back to the old and conventional unsound method.
Hopefully,
food sovereignty in the visions of the presidential candidates will be
supported by more accurate land use data. Whoever the president is, he must
place land-use data as a main priority in his action plan. ●
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