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Clashes between local residents and security forces during a protest against a plan to build the world’s second-largest glass and solar panel factory on Rempang Island, Indonesia, on Sept. 7, 2023. Image courtesy of BP Batam.
The Indonesian government and civil society have signed a joint statement, marking a shared commitment to fast-track agrarian reform in the country.
The joint statement was signed by various ministries on Feb. 19 during the first day of the Asia Land Forum in Jakarta, the largest regional forum focused on land rights and agrarian issues in Asia.
In the joint statement, the Indonesian government and civil society organizations commit to working together on accelerating agrarian reform and strengthening agrarian reform policies, seen as key strategies for poverty alleviation and achieving food self-sufficiency in Indonesia.
Strong commitment and political will from the government to tackle agrarian issues in Indonesia are important as the country is grappled with worsening land ownership inequality, land-grabbing and agrarian conflicts.
As much as 68% of lands in Indonesia are controlled by 1% of the population as the government prioritizes giving concessions to large corporations.
These large-scale infrastructure and resource extraction projects have pushed marginalized groups such as farmers, Indigenous communities and fisherfolk off of their lands.
From 2015 to 2024, there were 3,234 agrarian conflicts across 7.4 million hectares (18.3 million acres) of land, affecting 1.8 million households.
This highly unequal land distribution also resulted in many farmers’ plots of lands shrinking. Official data show there were 16.9 million farmers with plots smaller than 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres), up from about 14.3 million in 2013.
