Swamp Development in Indonesia
A Web site by Adriaan van den Eelaart
in support of ISDP (Integrated Swamp Development Project) IBRD Loan 3755-IND
Reclaimed Swampland in Indonesia is situated in the coastal areas and its environment is mainly influenced by the tidal movements of the sea, estuaries and tidal rivers. It is part of the Coastal Environment and the water management of the Swamp Schemes is little influenced by its hinterland. The main aim of this Web site is to present a balanced view of Conservation and Development in the Coastal Tidal Wetlands of Indonesia.
Reclaimed swamp land in South Kalimantan
Fisherman with rice fields in background
Acid Sulphate Soils and Peat soils. In the coastal zones of Indonesia there are 6-8 million ha of mineral and peaty soils, containing pyrite. (Acid Sulphate soils) and there are about 16 million ha of deep Peat soils. That makes Indonesia the country with the far largest area of pyritic soils in the world and one of the largest with peat soils. Reclamation and Development of both soil types is very environmental sensitive. That fact resulted in the recent past in intense discussions whether these wetland/swamp areas should be protected against any type of reclamation. In my opinion a discussion, pro or contra, that is not effective, because these lands are opened up anyhow at a very fast rate. In my believe, most needed are clear management policies how to sustain that development with new techniques. Failures to sustain development will increase the pressure on Protected Areas in the Swamps, especially by illegal logging.
Management for Peat lands. Major parts in the Tidal Swamps are under severe threat of complete destruction. This applies especially to the Forestry Concessions on the peat soils. This Website explains why Forestry by Selective Cutting on peat soils is in most cases not sustainable under natural conditions. A new technology for Forestry on peat soils is presented as a possible alternative to selective cutting practices to protect the natural environment in the existing remaining forests as much as possible. A more extensive description of the conditions and hazards of a not sustainable development of peat (Gambut) areas is given in my note: Ombrogenous Peat Swamps and Recommended Uses in Tropical Areas. (pdf file)
Management of Acid Sulphate Soils. This Website claims that a new type of water management system , as used in ISDP for acid sulphate soils, is sustainable for agriculture in the Indonesian conditions. The acidity problems with very low yielding rice fields or even abandoned areas can be solved at reasonable costs as proven in the Model areas with local farmers. For the developed swamp areas the Website focuses on improving the rice yields and presents means to reduce the environmental impacts in existing Swamp Schemes. The Water management system is the key for sustainable rice yields in Swamp Schemes. Leaching of toxic elements in the root zone of rice plays a critical role in this water management. The most efficient method of leaching is mechanised land preparation, combined with pumping when puddling the root-zone soil. An on-farm water management system is required to flush out the toxics.
Problems: Development of the Tidal Lowlands, especially for the rice cultivation, has been so far slow and previous investment have been in many ways not sustainable, a main complain of the World Bank. There are two major problems encountered.
First: In places the water management infra-structure is not adequate. Mainly because the absence of an intensive tertiary and quaternary ditch system that could be managed by flushing the water in the canals.
Second: The lack of labour, combined with the limited financial resources of farmers in Tidal Lowlands are a main cause of its low yields in many areas.
(See also webpage Discussion land & water resources, Indonesia ).
As a consequence it is essential to understand that Tidal Lowland Development was from the beginning a phased development with low inputs and low yields at the start. Further inputs should follow however an integrated approach and aimed to assess needed inputs to increase yields and cropping intensities. Only in this way the inputs will be sustainable and not be lost. This might require a range of technical as well as institutional inputs.
Mechanization and Post-Harvest Management. It appears that, beside the water management, both the mechanization, broadcast seeding and post-harvest management play an essential role to improve yields and to make two crops a year possible for farmers. More information is found on webpage Agriculture.
The Indonesian Government has so far adopted a multi-stage implementation strategy for swamp development, starting with low-cost development. Seen the problems caused by this phased development, it could be argued this approach needs revision and a more advanced integrated approach might be needed for further development. The last 30 years the Ministry of Public Works has been responsible for the reclamation of the swamps. Also the Ministry of Agriculture is increasingly involved in the development of the swamps; particularly lately in South Sumatra province.
See also the FAQ's (Frequent Asked Questions) on webpage Discussion.
New is A PowerPoint presentation of the pilot area in South Sumatra province. Also problems for the second crop are discussed in more detail in another PowerPoint presentation. (The PowerPoint presentations should be viewed using Internet Explorer and not Mozilla Firefox)
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The conclusion can be made that successful Tidal Lowlands Development requires relatively high investments in human resources and technical infrastructure. A low cost-low input approach does not work. The table below summarizes the requested investments which emphasizes an integrated approach. This project STLD (Strengthening Tidal Lowlands Development) has been approved and started on 1 June 2004 and will continue until 1 June 2006. See the website of STLD |
Many reclaimed Tidal Lowland Swamp areas with good potentials stil have low yields, while others have yields of 6-8 tons/ha: WHY? See page Agriculture-Mechanization.
Aspects of successful Lowland Development
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No |
Purpose |
Activities |
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01 |
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
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– Mechanized agricultural development – Providing agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizers, pesticide) – Uniform cropping one secondary water management unit – Crop diversification, dry food-tree crops, aquaculture – Cropping intensity to 2x per year – Train.-Exten. for the farmers and local government staff
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|
02
|
WATER MANAGEMENT |
– Installation/ Rehabilitation of water control structures – Operation and Maintenance of the structures – Training of O&M for the farmers-local government staff – Aqua-culture development – Estate crops/ Tree crops
|
|
03
|
POST HARVEST HANDLING |
– Sufficient and well distributed processing/ drying of grains/ post harvest handling – Storage – Transportation to the market – Marketing |
|
04 |
REGIONAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL INFRA-STRUCTURES |
– Improvement of waterway facilities – Road development – Development of Market – Facilities for drinking, sanitation, education, health, religious – Spatial planning
|
|
05 |
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
– Strengthening of Water Users Associations (WUA's) at Secondary Unit level. Legalizing of WUA's, training O&M yearly budget proposal to local government. - R & D, Training-Ext by the local research institute – Initiative action and commitment of local government – Private sector involvement – Participatory approach – Banking/ Credit mechanism
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06 |
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS) |
– Asset management – Monitoring and Evaluation – Geographical Information System – Modeling of water management
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07
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT |
– EIA documents (Amdal/ UKL/UPL) – Law and regulation – Conservation of natural resources
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As a Consultant I have worked for the Ministry of Public Works , the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Forestry. The views expressed in this Web site are my own responsibility and are not necessarily the same as the views of the Indonesian Government.
It is highly recommended to click: Table of Contents
to select the subject you are interested.
This page was last updated: 21-Apr-2008
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