Recent Indonesian Rural Development: Dilemma of a Top‑Down Approach

Abstract

The Setting At face value the domestic economic scene in the mid-seventies certainly looks promising; particularly since 1970 an annual growth rate of 7 to 8% has been recorded. In his address to Parliament and to the nation on the eve of the Republic's thirty-first birthday commemoration, President Suharto reported that the Gross Domestic Product increased at an annual average of almost 8% between 197S-75, exceeding the 7.5% projected average for the period of the Second Five Year Develop ment Plan (PELITA II), due to greater domestic investments. Furthermore, the rate of inflation was brought down to 19.8% in 1975/1976 which meant a decrease of 0.3%, if compared with the previous fiscal year. The above progress was recorded despite several economic and financial setbacks such as the world economic recession, the Pertamina state oil company crisis and, more relevant to the agricultural sector, the rice crop failures in a number of well irrigated and therefore potential rice-producing provinces, due to widespread infesta tion of wer eng (Nila Par/ata Lugens) over three or more consecutive planting seasons. Tens of thousands of hectares of well-irrigated sawah (wet padi fields) in Java, parts of Sumatra, as well as Southern Sulawesi were struck by millions of virus-spreading leafhoppers, which frequently damaged high-yielding variety (HYV) rice crops totally. The Minister for Agriculture announced in May 1977 that roughly 100,000 hectares may have been heavily struck by wereng, and although this may not jeopardize the national rice buffer stock, it was admitted that it proved a tremendous burden for the small farmers. If a loss of one ton per hectare is estimated for every heavily damaged rice field then the total loss would be in the region of 100,000 tons. Government rice and wheat imports, however, planned for both 1977 and 1978 from such countries as the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada are many times that amount. Judging by the available stock, there may be less reason for concern. Yet, on the other hand, some university based entomologists do not entirely share the Minister's optimism. Apparently, agricultural intensification with high-yielding varieties over five or more consecutive years has exposed several popular varieties such as PB5 and PB8 to certain pests. It is suspected that the monoculture of rice without a more varied cropping pattern in between seasons is responsible for increasing the vulnerability of rice crops so that new HYVs, with more resistance to wereng, have to be introduced at shorter intervals.