Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The House of Representatives passed a key bill on Tuesday aimed at empowering the country's largely impoverished agrarian class, but the passage was overshadowed by the fact that nearly a third of legislators failed to show up for the plenary session.

The Law on Empowering and Protecting Farmers ushers in several changes meant to speed up agrarian reform, including a new provision entitling farmers to own up to two hectares of state land they have been working on for at least five consecutive years.

It also requires province- and region-owned banks to set up departments catering specifically to providing micro loans to farmers.

Other provisions in the law tighten restrictions on the import of produce, specify price guarantees for certain crops and increase the reach of the government's fertilizer subsidy program, all in a bid to ease the financial pressure on farmers.

In another key article, the government acknowledges the challenges farmers face as a result of the effects of climate change, and tries to anticipate those challenges by providing insurance against massive crop failures and livestock deaths or other loss of livelihood as a result of extreme weather.

Regional authorities are also required to take steps to mitigate those contingencies, including by improving irrigation systems and providing early warning systems for weather-related problems.

The law also promotes the sustainable use of farmland through more efficient farming methods and the recovery of degraded land. Of the estimated 7.7 million hectares of farmland in the country, some 4.7 million hectares are categorized as degraded.

Education for farmers also features heavily in the new law, with regional authorities required to train farmers about developments in farm technology, the availability of pest and drought-resistant crop cultivars, and the prices they can expect to get for their crops.

The law calls for an end to the "opaque and unfair market system" that currently sees the majority of Indonesia's farmers sell their produce to intermediaries for a fraction of the market cost, largely because of their ignorance of how much they could actually make.

Suswono, the agriculture minister, said he was optimistic the measures would help improve the welfare of the nation's farmers and agrarian communities and in the process boost the output of the country's flagging agricultural sector.

"It's important to empower farmers by implementing the range of new policies that are enshrined in this new law," he said.

In addition to financial empowerment, the law also aims to give Indonesia's estimated 41 million farmers – or 17 percent of the total population – greater political prominence by increasing government support for farmers' associations, cooperatives and other guilds.

The provision is seen by supporters of the law as helping the associations become more financially independent and thus less prone to influence or manipulation by vested political interests seeking to exploit the huge voter base represented by such groups.

While the new legislation has long been touted by its supporters, farmers' groups and agriculture experts as a landmark set of provisions, the House plenary session at which the bill was passed on Tuesday was poorly attended.

Only 373 of the 560 House members attended what was meant to be a compulsory hearing, although the figure still exceeded the minimum of 281 required to pass bills.

The Democratic Party, which has the most seats at the House, also had the most absentee legislators – 43 of its 148 members failed to show up. The Golkar Party was missing 32 of its 106 members, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was missing 32 of 94.

At the other end of the scale, only three of 17 legislators from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) did not show up.

Critics contend that the poor turnout on Tuesday, at which the House also passed bills on illegal logging and aerospace management, is consistent with a wider pattern of attendance related to the content of the bills being discussed.

With legislation like the farmers' empowerment law, in which there is little scope for embezzlement through major construction or procurement projects, legislators are less likely to take an interest, observers say.

But they contend that with legislation that covers such projects, such as bill of amendments to the higher education law, passed last year, attendance tends to be high.