Alfitria Nefi P, Jakarta – The Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) has assessed that implementing President Prabowo Subianto's food self-sufficiency program has harmed the environment.
"For example, the food estate project in Merauke has massively damaged the natural forest cover, savanna ecosystem, and marshlands throughout the Merauke mainland," said the Director of Socio-Bioeconomy, Celios Fiorentina Refani, when contacted on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Fiorentina highlighted the cassava plantation food estate project in Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan. According to her, the government's initiative to convert landscapes was initially utilized for peatland development into other crops could exacerbate hydro-meteorological disasters such as floods in that area.
She mapped out at least three factors contributing to the hazardous nature of the food self-sufficiency program. She emphasized that environmental degradation is inseparable from conflicting interests. "Many interventions in the food sector are for business-related profits." According to Fiorentina, the proliferation of corporations in this program has led to decision-making being at odds with corporate gains.
She also criticized the prevalence of incompetent parties in decision-making roles. She pointed out the active or retired military intervention in the Forest Area Arrangement Task Force for mega food estate projects in South Merauke, Southern Papua. "This military approach has made feeding militarized," she said.
She also criticized the uniformity of food production practices, which she believed contributed to environmental degradation. This is due to the fact that monoculture patterns force the government to constantly open up land for transforming into food self-sufficiency sites.
"For instance, people in the hinterlands of Merauke are forced to consume rice that naturally does not grow in their soil," said Fiorentina. According to her, such homogeneity may leave these areas vulnerable to food shortages.
She accused President Prabowo Subianto of implementing the food self-sufficiency program without thorough technocratic planning. "Instead of a science-based policy, Prabowo's food policy is conducted in a militaristic, monocultural, and top-down manner," she stated.