Let's Reform Indonesia Through Sustainable Agricultural Economics Strategy: Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE)

Tea plantation in Rancabali Bandung, West Java, Indonesia
(The example of monoculture farming.)

Did you know that a policy inherited from the Dutch colonial era has proven detrimental to the environment but is still being used in Indonesia today?

The clue, the colonial policy was a regulation made by Governor-General Johannes van den Bosch in 1830. Each village must set aside a portion of its land (20%) to be planted with export commodities, namely rum, tobacco, coffee, tea, and sugar cane. In addition, since the 19th century, the Dutch government also pioneered large-scale teak plantations to manufacture their warships and merchant ships.

The Graaf Johannes van Den Bosch was the originator of the colonial era of forced cultivation in Indonesia. Raden Saleh made the portrait painting.

So, what is this policy? 

Yes, you are right; this policy is called the Cultuurstelsel, which Indonesian historians call the Cultivation System.

Monoculture (aka, Cultuurstelsel) is an economic policy legacy in the agricultural sector during the colonial period. It needed to be reformed immediately. Forced cultivation or its modern adaptation, namely monoculture, has harmed environmental sustainability in Indonesia. So far, in the name of economic progress, the ecological balance has often been sacrificed.

Indonesia is an archipelagic country that is blessed with biodiversity or biodiversity. In the book "Preserving Indonesia (2008) by Jatna Supriatna", it is stated that Indonesia is known as a country with mega diversity of biological species and a mega center of world biodiversity. There are 6,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of animals, and 100 species of micro-organisms that have been exploited for their potential. Its dense forests and fertile soil are the principal capital for various plants and animals to live and develop properly. This reason then encouraged the Dutch colonial government to take advantage of Indonesia's advantages as much as possible (for economic gain and to finance the war). One of the ways was through the forced cultivation system. At the same time, the forced cultivation system itself has many negative impacts, both in the social and economic fields.

Especially in the agricultural sector, one of the negative impacts is the emergence of a food crisis. They only focused on growing several export commodities and ignoring the food commodities. So at that time, people had difficulty getting food, which resulted in famine. Wulan Sondarika, in research entitled, "Impact of Cultuurstelsel (Forced Cultivation) for Indonesian People from 1830-1870", stated that hunger caused casualties in Cirebon (1830), Demak (1849), and Grobogan (1850) so that the population decreased drastically. The starvation disease is often found.

Then, how is the relationship between forced cultivation policies in the past and the present?

The forced cultivation system, which requires people to plant one commodity that has economic value on their land, is similar to what entrepreneurs and farmers in Indonesia are currently doing, commonly known as a monoculture farming system. With monoculture, entrepreneurs or farmers will focus on growing one commodity on a large scale, which is considered to produce maximum economic value or the most significant profit.

Slowly but surely, the monoculture has damaged the ecological balance in Indonesia. Monoculture under the pretext of exploitation of natural resources for the fulfillment of human needs has a negative impact in the form of environmental damage. The conversion of forest functions into oil palm plantations causes environmental pollution—reduced forest area, home to biodiversity, and decreased soil nutrients. Monoculture is also unwittingly the mastermind behind the decline in people's welfare, especially farmers.

Why is that so?

First is the examples of ecological damage on a large scale, resulting from massive deforestation or forest clearing by oil palm plantation entrepreneurs. Palm oil is a commodity that requires a large land area, and it often needs to get a new location. The soil fertility planted with only one commodity type does not last long. The solution, soil that is no longer fertile, will be assisted with chemical fertilizers. This chemical fertilizer is dangerous because it will pollute the water in the ground and pollute the surrounding environment. It worsens, especially when coupled with the use of pesticides. This pollution interferes with the survival of animals and endangers health.

Planting one commodity (monoculture), oil palm, looks more economically profitable. This economic value often makes people forget the long-term impact. With the loss of land nutrients, the ecosystem of plants and animals will also be disturbed due to deforestation and environmental pollution. Deforestation causes animals to lose their habitat, get injured, and die. Animals in Indonesia, such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinos, and leopards, will be threatened. The reduced forest area will also accelerate the greenhouse effect. Furthermore, with burning forests to open new land, the surrounding environment will be polluted and covered with smoke which is undoubtedly dangerous for health. An innovative green economy idea is needed in the 1000 Ideas movement to maintain Indonesia's ecological and environmental sustainability.

Another example of monoculture threat to Indonesian forest

(Patani-The threat of monoculture plantations in North Maluku)

Second, on a smaller scale, in most areas in Indonesia, the monoculture system is often also used by farmers. The farmers only focus on growing one type of commodity, for example, rice or corn. The lack of information on good modern agricultural management is suspected of causing the lagging behind of farmers in Indonesia. They still use traditional farming methods. As a result, minimal tools and poor farming techniques such as monoculture are still used to cultivate the land.

Agricultural land with a monoculture system will gradually decrease its fertility. Land that is no longer fertile will depend heavily on fertilizers for successful harvests. This dependence on fertilizers is detrimental to farmers because fertilizer prices are unstable and high. The threat of crop failure due to soil infertility and soaring fertilizer prices makes farmers suffer losses. Farmers who lose money are often in debt, and their welfare decreases.

For this reason, farmers in Indonesia are challenging to progress compared to modern farmers in other countries. Therefore, for the sake of environmental sustainability and the welfare of farmers, encouragement from various elements of society is needed. Hopefully, through the 1000 Ideas Movement, it can provide solutions to improve the quality of the economy and the environment that can go hand in hand.

The examples of monoculture farming have a harmful impact—study case of farmers in Thailand.

Then, what is the solution?

Economic development is indeed needed to advance Indonesia so that Indonesia can compete in the global arena. With a positive spirit, the government continues to innovate economic policies to catch up. However, it would be nice if economic development could be carried out without damaging the environment. Financial needs and environmental sustainability can grow in tandem. Alternative solutions for monoculture systems have also been found and widely discussed.

For example, to maintain the sustainability of forest ecosystems, there is a system called agroforestry. According to Hudges (2000), agroforestry is how to grow trees together with crops or fodder in a system that aims to be ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable. Simply put, this system combines trees with crops to increase profits, both financially and environmentally.

In agroforestry, we can create plan diversity within an area of ​​land to reduce the risk of crop failure. The soil is protected from erosion, reducing nutrients (soil fertility). So, the plants do not need fertilizers outside agricultural land. We can reduce it due to a system of recycling plant residues that can increase soil nutrients. Apart from agroforestry, several other systems, such as permaculture and intercropping, are part of one type of polyculture cropping system. Polyculture is a system of growing more than one type of plant in one field or land where planting is arranged and planned while still implementing better environmental aspects. Included in polyculture are agroforestry, permaculture, and intercropping.

The polyculture system has several benefits, such as reducing pest attacks that usually cause crop failure. When planting different types of plants side by side, pests of different kinds of plants can interfere with each other and make the number of problems reduce or even disappear.

The polyculture system will be maximized coupled with crop rotation. 

Quoted from Ayu Dariska (2016) research regarding "The Influence of Monoculture and Polyculture Agricultural Systems on Food Security of Farmers' Households in Tambak Boyo Village, East Buay Madang District East Oku Regency." Another alternative agricultural system has proven more profitable than monoculture, namely polyculture. 

The income from polyculture is higher than monoculture farming systems. The payment of the polyculture farming system is IDR 27,652,963.31 per hectare per year. In contrast, the monoculture farming system is IDR 21,512,515.29 per hectare per year. So, the agricultural system applied by farmers is very influential on farmers' income. Those show that the farm system used by farmers will determine the amount of revenue obtained later.

The awareness of sustainable elements in agriculture economics through Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) needs to be spread. The community, especially farmers, needs to know about the Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) strategy applicable to ensure environmental sustainability in every economic activity.

So, what kind of Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) Strategy can be applied by all levels of society?

Six-Step of Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) Strategy

Step 1, consider using alternative farming systems that are more environmentally friendly such as polyculture. 

Step 2, from now on, reduce and avoid the use of hazardous materials that can pollute the environment in agriculture, such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers. 

Step 3, ensure your economic activities and agricultural business do not violate government recommendations and regulations. 

Step 4, stop using monoculture farming systems.

Step 5, support the government's environmental policy by actively monitoring and criticizing existing environmental policy governance so that it can run well. 

Step 6, report to the government or authorized institution if you find a violation of ecological policy rules around you. 

With the awareness of the Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) strategy, more people will understand what they can do to increase awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability. So that in the future, economic activities that care about and support the sustainability of the agricultural environment will be widely used.

Who can disseminate information about the importance of Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE)? Where can it be distributed?

Solutions are always there and available, but it takes a strong desire to turn the key into a natural movement. Through the 1000 Ideas movement, I invite colleagues from various walks of life to lend strength to each other by disseminating information on the Sustainable Agriculture Economics (SAE) strategy in the surrounding environment. Start by applying it to yourself and then pass it on to others, especially to our environment, starting from the family. One small change someone makes can go a long way in helping to create a significant difference.

So, when will these changes be felt?

Of course, right here, right now, starting from within you, as you read this article.

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