Indonesia food plan risks largest deforestation in the world

This handout picture taken and released on November 3, 2024 by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto (L) speaking to Indonesia's Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin during their visit to an agriculture programme site, developed as part of a national scheme to achieve food self-sufficiency, at Wanam village in Merauke, South Papua Province. Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project. - Handout/INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE/AFP

JAKARTA: An Indonesian soldier gives a thumbs up as he crosses a rice field on a combine harvester in remote Papua, where a government food security mega-project has raised fears of mass deforestation.

Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region.