Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The government says it will begin offering farmers incentives to stop clearing land using fire, as part of efforts to stop the annual haze that has become a regional problem.

Planned incentives include providing productive crop seedlings and grants to farmers, according to an official at the State Ministry for the Environment.

"The money will be taken from a proposed US$60 million fund to address the annual forest fire problem," Agus Purnomo, a special assistant on international environmental issues, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

That was just one of the proposals announced during a regional workshop on Trans-Boundary Haze Pollution held in Jakarta. Attending the workshop were senior officials from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesia is under pressure to deal with the haze, with neighboring countries criticizing Jakarta for its lack of action on the issue. An earlier meeting of environment ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Riau to discuss the issue.

Jakarta has yet to pass into law a regional agreement on trans-boundary pollution, which would help speed up assistance from neighboring countries in fighting fires in Indonesian territory.

The proposals from the workshop will be submitted for endorsement at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment in Cebu, the Philippines, on Nov. 9-10.

Indonesia proposed 80 programs to reduce forest fires, including setting up early warning systems in fire-prone areas and strengthening the country's capability to fight forest fires.

Jakarta has long blamed forest fires on land clearance activities by farmers and plantation companies. In response, it has banned the planting of crops on burned land.

"Imposing a kind of status quo on burned land has been effective in reducing forests fire," State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar told the Post.

The workshop also discussed the establishment of a ministerial steering committee comprising environment ministers from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The committee would monitor haze problems and set up a hotline for the exchange of information in the event of forest fires.

"We must be creative in devising preventive actions. Putting people in jail for carrying matches and kerosene may be one method, but we have to look beyond such measures to be more effective," Rachmat said.