Vast ‘food bank’ estates under development

Staple food: A farmer harvesting with a tractor at a padi field. Indonesia is developing vast farm estates across the archipelago to counter the nation’s reliance on imported food. — AFP

THE country is developing vast farm estates across the archipelago – an area 10 times the size of neighbouring Singapore – to counter the nation’s reliance on imported food, said President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.The project, which eventually will span nearly 800,000ha, is preparing land to grow rice, cassava and corn for the world’s fourth-most populous country, he told a televised Cabinet meeting.

The announcement will anger environmental groups, who have warned such projects mostly exploit peatland areas and encourage forest fires blamed for the seasonal haze that has choked much of the region for the past two decades.