Indonesia managed to achieve self-sufficiency and even a surplus in rice production last year, but failed to improve the economic conditions of farmers who mostly live below the poverty line, a recent survey showed.

The study, conducted by the Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) last year, showed a farmer earned an average Rp 4,300 (approximately US 38 cents) per day.

With land conversions continuing to take place, more than 30,000 farmers and their families were forced to abandon their land last year, an increase from around 25,000 the year before.

"The number of farmers with either a very small plot of land or none at all continues to increase every day, or around 2 percent per year," SPI chairman Henry Saragih said in a press statement Friday.

He said that at least 10,000 hectares of rice fields were being converted annually for other purposes, leaving around 0.3 million hectares in Java and 1.19 million hectares outside Java. At least 5,000 hectares of rice fields across 12 regencies had been converted into coal mining sites.

"Despite this situation, the government refuses to implement the land reform programs it earlier promised to us. The National Agrarian Reform Program, which was supposed to redistribute land to the people and was promoted openly by the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in 2006, was never implemented," Henry said.

Farmers also experienced a tough year in 2008 due to the impacts of environmental destruction and global warming, and future dry seasons are expected to bring widespread droughts. To add to ongoing problems, 2008 was marked with numerous land conflicts, leading to the deaths of at least six farmers.

The SPI urged the government to immediately start the promised land reform program.