Food Security and The De-Agrarianisation of The Indonesian Economy

Jeff Neilson and Bustanul Arifin

2012

Food insecurity and the spectre of famine have been persistent, and sometimes volatile, political issues in Indonesia since the country gained independence in 1945. During the early 1960s, a combination of drought; a rat plague on Java; the destruction of crops due to the eruption of the Gunung Agung volcano on Bali; and imprudent economic policy resulted in large-scale food shortages across the archipelago. A 1964 article in Time Magazine, ‘Indonesia: Of Rice and Rats’, described the dire situation on Java:

 

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Increasing Environmental Risks and Food Security in Indonesia

Bustanul Arifin

2012

 

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2012-Arifin-Increasing Environmental Risks and Food Security

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Indonesian Coffee Economy

Bustanul Arifin

2011

 

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2011-Arifin-Indonesian Coffee Economy

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Challenges for Sustainable Agricultural Biotechnology Development in Indonesia

Bustanul Arifin and Hermanto Siregar

2010

 

Abstract

The development of biotechnology in Indonesia is a response to more serious food security challenges as the growth of food yield in the last decade has been much less than that of population. This paper describes biotechnology development in Indonesia, examines government policies related to biotechnology, and exposes challenges facing biotechnology development in the future. It also suggests that the government should provide clearer policy actions including fiscal incentives and legal protection, involve the private sector in developing innovations in research and development, and encourage wider participation of civil society in the development of biotechnology.

 

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Challenges of Global Environmental Governance by Non-State Actors in the Coffee Industry: Insights From India, Indonesia, and Vietnam

Bustanul Arifin, Jeff Neilson, C.P Gracy, Tran Ngoc Kham, Bill Pritchard and Lindsay Soutar

2010

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2010-Neilson-Arifin-Challenges of Global Environmental Governance

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Global Sustainability Regulation and Coffee Supply Chains in Lampung Province, Indonesia

Bustanul Arifin

December 2010

 

Abstract

This paper examines the global sustainability regulation in agricultural trade by conducting an in depth assessment of the economics of coffee-producing regions in Lampung Province, Indonesia. A negative campaign blaming illegal coffee producers for the loss of tigers in the Bukit Barisan Selatan (BBS) National Park in the province further complicates the issue, as the current coffee supply chain could not guarantee the workability of price transparency and asymmetric structures of coffee markets, to name a few. In this region, community initiatives have been developed to foster forest conservation by adopting coffee multi-strata practices under the agroforestry system and community based forestry management in the buffer zone outside the BBS National Park. Based on research findings, buyer-driven regulation of environmental practices in the coffee industry, which characterize most global initiatives, have somehow restructured the supply chain in producing regions. Recent global sustainability standards require adequate organizational capacity of coffee-farmer groups and rural cooperatives involved in the supply chain. The paper recommends policy integration between bottom-up initiatives at farm level or institutional changes at supply-chain organizations, and top down sustainability standards set by the private sector and non-government organizations.

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2010-Arifin-Global Sustainability Regulation and Coffee Supply Chains

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A Conjoint Analysis of Farmer Preferences for Community Forestry Contracts in the Sumber Jaya Watershed, Indonesia

Bustanul Arifin, Brent M.Swallow,  S.Suyanto, and Richard D.Coe

2009

 

Abstract

A wide range of policy instruments have been devised and applied to support the goals of sustainable forestry management. Community forestry programs can contain elements of several of those instruments. This paper considers the design of community forestry contracts in the Sumber Jaya area of Indonesia where community forestry contracts are agreements between the Forestry Department and community groups that provide group members with time-bound leasehold rights to protection forests, on the condition that farmers abide by specified land-use restrictions and pay any required fees. Farmers perceive that the contracts represent a bundle of restrictions and inducements, some of which are explicitly stated in the contract and others that are implied by the contract. Conjoint analysis was used to quantify farmers’ tradeoffs among the explicit and implicit attributes of the contracts. The results of logit and ordered logit models show that farmers are most concerned about the length of the contract, and relatively unconcerned about requirements on tree density and species composition. An implicit attribute, greater access to forestry and agroforestry extension, emerges as an important implicit attribute. The results imply that farmers in this part of Indonesia would be willing to abide by fairly strict limitations on land use, provided that they can be assured of long-term rights to the planted trees.

 

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Indonesian Sugar Self-Sufficiency

Bustanul Arifin

2008

 

Sugar is one of agricultural products stated as special products in World Trade Organization negotiation, in the same basket as rice, corn and soybean. Indonesia is making arduous efforts to increase domestic production to strengthen food endurance and lift up rural qualiity of life, and of course to come up to a self-sufficient state of sugar that yet to come.

 

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From Remarkable Success Stories to Troubling Present: The Case of BULOG in Indonesia

Bustanul Arifin

2008

 

The initial success and subsequent failure of Indonesia’s Food Logistics Agency BULOG parallels the rise and fall of the Indonesian agricultural sector and economy as a whole. After more than 20 years of “revolution” in the country’s economic and political systems, reflected in years of instability under President Sukarno, President Suharto introduced an entirely new approach of the economy in the late 1960s, marking the New Order regime. A key element of this approach was the government’s heavy investment in the rural economy to increase production of rice, the country’s most important food staple, supported by an effective policy to stabilize the price of rice.

 

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2008-Arifin-From Success to Trouble-The Case of Bulog in Indonesia

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Farming at Indonesia’s Forest Frontier: Understanding Incentives for Smallholders

Bustanul Arifin, Richard Geddes, Hanung Ismono, Jeff Neilson, and Bill Pritchard

 

2008

Market-based incentives are an increasingly popular tool being promoted to address global deforestation problems. Understanding the incentive structures that shape decision-making processes at the forest frontier, and the nature of institutions linking smallholders to environmental markets, are therefore crucial for developing schemes and policies capable of inducing positive changes in land use practices. This research takes the case of deforestation caused by smallholders in Indonesia and, through a series of detailed household surveys, identifies key components of the institutional environment that shape forest outcomes at the frontier. These findings hold important implications for the appropriate design and effectiveness of what are commonly referred to as ‘Payments for Ecosystem Services’ (or PES) schemes.

 

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