Agrobiotechnology at The Nexus between Clientelism and The State’s Authority : The Indonesian Case

Rachmat Hidayat,Lukman Wijaya Baratha,Ahmad Munif Mubarok,Tree Setiawan Pamungkas,M Rondhi,H.S Addy

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202014206003

Abstract

The impact of the Green Revolution in Indonesia over the past 50 years has entirely changed the social structure of the farming community. The state and its institutional apparatus once took a huge part in controlling the agricultural sector, yet this vital role has indeed declined dramatically over the past two decades in line with the political push to implement a democratic agenda due to the concerns with the society. However, in rural areas of Java the authoritarian mechanism of agricultural management was quickly replaced by a new type of patronage that no longer relied on land tenure, but rather controlled seeds and fertilizer. The link between the state and seeds as well as fertilizer companies in controlling the dynamics of the Javanese farmer community has led to every agricultural and polemic innovation that has shaped the state’s relationship with civil society for decades, which has not yet made the farmers an independent community. Regarding the issues concerning land tenure, a classic critique of patronage, now the shift over the meaning of patronage is more centered on the control of seeds and fertilizers as if these were still a critical effort that did not have adequate capacity on the part of farmers and those who stand for farmer justice. Criticism of the tacit application of agricultural biotechnology in East Java remains a secondary issue, and it faces no obstacles at all upon going through the clientelism structure driving the mechanism of agricultural management in rural areas.

Highlights

Agricultural conditions in Indonesia have depended on the presence of networks and actors who play a secondary role in the distribution of fertilizers and seeds
If we look at Berman's description in this period, several concerns will develop massively to further strengthen the influence in postcolonial Indonesia (Berman, 2010)
According to Wertheim, the transition process of Indonesian society in the post-colonial era up to several decades afterwards demonstrates that the Indonesian government apparatus was nothing more than what had become the agricultural management system in the previous colonial era (Wertheim: 1964)

Summary

THE STATE IN THE POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF SEEDS AND FERTILIZERS IN INDONESIA

Agricultural conditions in Indonesia have depended on the presence of networks and actors who play a secondary role in the distribution of fertilizers and seeds. This difference made them the front line for agricultural companies to enter East Java villages. The issue is driven by the increasingly open level of competition in the agricultural industry to remote villages in East Java with the more prevalent seed planting programs in some rice fields owned by village farmers This leads to a relative oversight of the seed and fertilizer manufactured by state-owned companies that the state attempts to promote through Gapoktan. Scott as a neck-deep sink that would no longer be able to deal with violent ripples (Scott, 1977)

INNOVATION IN THE FACADE OF DEMOCRACY

CONCLUSION