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INDONESIA TO INTENSIFY SHRIMP FARMING The Indonesian government's plan to drastically increase the country's shrimp production will require massive land developments that will destroy mangrove forests and marginalise local shrimp farmers, who have protested the new policy. By Raja Siregar
October 1999 The Indonesian government is planning to drastically increase its shrimp production in the next few years by converting 320,000 hectares of new land into shrimp farms. The plan will transform Indonesia's traditional shrimp farming into a modern, intensive system that will produce 13 times the current volume of shrimp. The massive land developments required to reach these targets will destroy mangrove forests and marginalise local shrimp farmers, who have protested the new policy. In response to this impending crisis, FoE Indonesia (WALHI) is focusing on a major shrimp-farming campaign. In 1995, a viral disease destroyed most of Indonesia's shrimp production. The disease was endemic to the shrimp farms of the North Java coast, the first and biggest intensive shrimp farm in Indonesia. The virus then spread to other regions and, within a few years, had sharply decreased shrimp production in Indonesia. Today only 10% of shrimp-farming locations are still in operation. The Indonesian Agricultural Department plans to turn things around by doubling the land coverage for shrimp farming in the next few years. The plan, Protekan 2003 (Programme to Increase Exports of Fisheries), would increase revenue from the fisheries sector to US$10 billion by 2003. Of that figure, an estimated US$6.78 billion would derive from shrimp exports, and shrimp export volume would increase to approximately 677,800 tonnes. Indonesia currently exports approximately 50,000 tonnes of shrimp per year and uses 360,000 hectares of land for shrimp farming. How will the Protekan 2003 targets be realised? The Indonesian government will carry out its intensification method in 17 provinces and undertake expansions in 25 provinces. The government and big capital investors prefer intensive shrimp production because it provides certainty in volume production and control over production processing. This intensive form of shrimp farming is concentrated in the large shrimp farms on the south coast of Sumatra island. There are three major activities in that region. Charone Poppand owns major shrimp operations there and also in Aceh. The Ministry of Food and Horticulture has announced that the government will adopt this type of arrangement when they officially launch a new large shrimp farm in Lampung. These changes come at a great cost to the environment and require the destruction of mangrove forests. Fifty per cent of the world's mangrove forests have been destroyed and up to half that loss is due to shrimp farming. The plan's harmful impact on shrimp-farming communities is equally distressing. Large and intensive shrimp-farming operations use farmers merely as a part of the production machine, rather than as partners. The owner or company is the main controller during every stage of production. Land to be used for shrimp production is often taken away from mangrove forests or from villagers by force and physical violence. Farmers have used these lands as guarantees to get bank credits, and were promised complete ownership of their properties after completing their credit payments in full. Now, after running their farms for several years, none of these farmers have been given rightful ownership of their land. In fact, farmers have never received clear information about the details and developments of their agreements. Indonesia's shrimp-farming policies have sparked two riots on large shrimp farms in South Sumatra (PT. Wahyuni Mandira) and in Lampung (PT. Dipasena Citra D). The conflicts caused mass arson and vandalism, and hundreds of farmers were evicted and several imprisoned. Will this policy, which ignores the reformation spirit in Indonesia, take other victims? - Third World Network Features -ends- About the writer: Raja Siregar is with Friends of the Earth Indonesia (FoE Indonesia). The above article first appeared in Link (July/August/ September 1999).
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