http://www.cleanbiz.asia/story/rspo-claims-strong-sustainable-palm-oil-growth-2011
Date: March 05, 2012
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has reported what it
calls unprecedented growth for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO)
last year. In its inaugural annual quantities review, RSPO reported that
the year-on-year supply of CSPO in 2011 increased by 73 percent,
reaching 4,798,512 metric tons compared to 2,773,567 metric tons in
2010, while year-on-year sales volume increased 94 percent.
The association, which brings together buys and sellers, says its “2011 RSPO CSPO Growth Interpretation Narrative” (2011 GIN is the first of its kind for a sustainable commodity.
The numbers certainly appear to contradict complaints made within certain circles of the palm oil industry in Malaysia and Indonesia that CSPO sales of RSPO-certified palm oil have been well below expectations.
The report show a strong upward trend in the supply and sale of
sustainable palm oil, since the certification of the commodity was first
launched by the RSPO in 2008. From 2009 to 2011 supply of CSPO has
increased by 250 percent (1,357,511 metric tons in 2009 to 4,798,512
metric tons in 2011) while sales volume has grown more than six-fold,
from 343,857 metric tons in 2009 to 2,490,526 metric tons in 2011.
RSPO says the surge in supply can be attributed to the rising number
of oil plam growers entering into its certification process. In 2008,
RSPO could count 17 certified mills in just two countries (Malaysia and
Papua New Guinea), today there are 29 grower companies with 135
certified mills in six countries: Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands – an increase in certified
mills of approximately 800 percent over three years.
“The growth of CSPO has shown an escalating trend and clearly
reflects the inclination of sustainability standards towards palm oil,”
said RSPO secretary general Darrel Webber.
RSPO membership has also been rapidly expanding in the past year.
Membership of consumer goods manufacturer increased more than 60 percent
while the retailers category increased by 50 percent - both primarily
from the European regions which is an affirmative step in accelerating
demand of CSPO. The processors & traders category also intensified
by over 30 percent strengthening commitment along the palm oil supply
chain, another integral development in transforming the market.
Jumat, 16 Maret 2012
Iran struggles to buy SEA palm oil as sanctions bite
Friday March 16, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR: Iran has not managed to buy palm oil from South-East Asia despite paying for some backdated orders with other currencies apart from the US dollar as Western sanctions bite, traders said.
Palm oil, used for cooking, has grown increasingly difficult for Iran to secure as the United States and Europe impose tough financial sanctions to stop its nuclear weapons programme.Middle East and South-East Asian traders said that Iranians had been offering US$20 to US$30 per tonne more for palm oil from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, but no deals had been signed in the past month though food was not included under sanctions.
In early January, South-East Asian traders told Reuters that Indonesia and Malaysia had stopped exporting directly to Iran over payment problems since late last year.
“Nothing new has been signed. There were some Iranians at a palm oil conference in Kuala Lumpur last week looking to make deals but nothing came out of that,” said an official with a Saudi food company with an edible oil refinery in Iran.
“It is difficult for us to run our own refinery. Freight costs are high and many of the companies in Iran are still waiting for a backlog of shipments to come through. These are deals made much earlier but the payment issues block this.”
In February, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) reported that 27,100 tonnes of refined palm oil were exported to Iran, which traders said was a clearing off a backlog of orders made last year.
But in the first 10 days of March, no other Malaysian shipments to Iran were reported, data from SGS showed.
“There are no more direct deals with Iran. Some parties have been paid, mostly in the form of euros or yen,” said a trader with a Malaysian palm oil firm that used to deal with Iran. “I don't think they will use the euro route since it is still hard to process payment and banks are getting very wary.” - Reuters
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/16/business/10928792&sec=business
Is Liberia land grab by foreign firms sowing seed of future conflict?
Small farmers lose
livelihoods as 'controversial' palm-oil producing multinational moves
in. Much of rural Liberia's population lives on land that has been in
the family for generations.
Most people don't have the money to go through the costly and complicated process of acquiring deeds, so under Liberian law the government is the owner of all public land.
Sando's land was not registered; therefore it belonged to the government. However, a report from the Centre for International Conflict Resolution (CICR), at Columbia University in the US, raises doubts about whether the future is quite so bright for the communities affected by the company's actions.
The report studied the impact on communities of investments by four companies: Golden Veroleum, Sime Darby, ArcelorMittal and Putu Iron Ore Mining Corporation.
The three-month study - based mainly on town hall meetings, focus group discussions and interviews with indigenous groups, public officials, UN staff, civil society activists, international organisations and corporate representatives - found that lack of consultation on the investment projects had resulted in "high tension" among communities.
Investment has flooded into Liberia since President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rid the country of its crippling foreign debt. She has brought peace and development to the nation after 14 years of devastating civil war.
The country has signed natural resource deals with foreign investors, mainly in iron ore and palm oil, amounting to a total projected value of around $19bn. According to the report, an official from the ministry of planning said these deals cover almost half of the country's total landmass.
http://presstv.com/Program/231649.html
Kamis, 15 Maret 2012
Palm oil scheme to name non-compliant members
The
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is to publish a list of
members that are not meeting its code of conduct. The organisation, the
largest sustainability roundtable for
an agricultural commodity, will agree further sanctions later this year.
According to the RSPO code of conduct, members must draw up and implement a plan on the production, procurement and use of certified sustainable palm oil and must report annually on their progress to the multi-stakeholder scheme.
The plan must set a "sufficiently challenging" deadline to reach 100% production or use of certified oil, a phrase that members can interpret as they wish.
But many members have continued to ignore the requirements. Last year, 148 of 359 RSPO member palm oil producers, processors and retailers failed to report on progress, while significant numbers have not even set their own deadlines.
Last Thursday, the RSPO's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, passed a resolution calling on all members to come up to scratch by the next AGM in November or face being named and possible (as yet unspecified) sanctions.
Most major European firms, including Tesco, Carrefour and IKEA, are complying with the scheme. Non-compliant members include BP, Kraft and Associated British Foods (ABF).
BP told ENDS that it intends to comply but gave no further details. Kraft said it had made some progress but did not say when it would report to the RSPO. ABF did not respond.
Delegates at last week's annual meeting also passed a resolution that will make it easier for future AGMs to reach quorum. The meeting had had to be rescheduled after failing to reach the required 50% quorum last November. In future, only 80 ordinary RSPO members will need to be present or represented to hold an AGM.
According to the RSPO code of conduct, members must draw up and implement a plan on the production, procurement and use of certified sustainable palm oil and must report annually on their progress to the multi-stakeholder scheme.
The plan must set a "sufficiently challenging" deadline to reach 100% production or use of certified oil, a phrase that members can interpret as they wish.
But many members have continued to ignore the requirements. Last year, 148 of 359 RSPO member palm oil producers, processors and retailers failed to report on progress, while significant numbers have not even set their own deadlines.
Last Thursday, the RSPO's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, passed a resolution calling on all members to come up to scratch by the next AGM in November or face being named and possible (as yet unspecified) sanctions.
Most major European firms, including Tesco, Carrefour and IKEA, are complying with the scheme. Non-compliant members include BP, Kraft and Associated British Foods (ABF).
BP told ENDS that it intends to comply but gave no further details. Kraft said it had made some progress but did not say when it would report to the RSPO. ABF did not respond.
Delegates at last week's annual meeting also passed a resolution that will make it easier for future AGMs to reach quorum. The meeting had had to be rescheduled after failing to reach the required 50% quorum last November. In future, only 80 ordinary RSPO members will need to be present or represented to hold an AGM.
Minggu, 04 Maret 2012
Court Decision Upsets Plantation Companies
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 03/03/2012 7:35 PM
The Constitutional Court’s recent decision to approve a request from a
number of local governments to change an article in the Forestry Law
has raised uncertainties over the legal status of land owned by
plantation companies and forest concession owners.
The chairman of the Indonesian Forestry Businessmen Association
(APHI), Nanang Rofandi, said in Jakarta on Friday that with the
court’s decision, the association’s members felt that the status of
their land had become uncertain.
“The ruling raises a lot of questions and confusion among us and we
now have no certainty in carrying out our business,” Nanang told The
Jakarta Post.
On Feb. 21, the court issued a ruling to drop the phrase “allocated
and/or”, which appears in the third paragraph of the Forestry Law’s
first article, at the request of regents from five regencies in
Central Kalimantan on the ground that the phrase made the article
contrary to the 1945 Constitution.
The regents also argued that the full sentence, which reads: “A
forested area is a certain area that is ‘allocated and/or’ determined
by the government as a permanent forest area”, gave an absolute
authority to the central government to declare some of their areas as
permanent forests.
With the original article, the plaintiff said, the central government
had the power to determine non-forest areas, which are already owned
by local people, to become forest areas. But legal experts say that
the removal of the phrase could lend even more power to the government
in determining forest areas.
Legal expert Hikmahanto Juwana, who is also the dean of the University
of Indonesia’s Law Faculty, said the deletion of the phrase did not
really change the meaning because there was no explanation on the
legal implication of the change.
“When we talk about the government, which government are we talking
about? The word ‘government’ is misleading because it can mean the
central government or the local government,” Hikmahanto told the Post.
He said that both central and local governments should sit together
and discuss further about the forestry issue. He also said that the
ruling still needed to make an explanation in order to make everything
clear.
“We discussed this issue at the Forestry Ministry today. We want them
to issue circulars that will help us to retain legality in our
business,” he said.
In line with the APHI, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association
(GAPKI) also said that the legality of palm oil business activity in
Indonesia has become unclear following the courts’ decision.
“The ruling brings a lot of problems. We are going to consult with
legal experts about this issue in order to get some clarity for our
business,” GAPKI’s executive director, Fadhil Hasan, told the Post.
In a separate interview, Greenomics Indonesia executive director
Elfian Effendi said that all the Forestry Ministry’s decrees on
provincial forestry area allocations issued after Sept. 30, 1999, no
longer had a legal base as one of the reasons why the court decided to
change the article was because it contravened the Constitution.
Elfian added that the court’s ruling also effectively delegitimized
the presidential decrees on new permits and prime forest management,
and the forest spatial management plan (RTRW) in Sumatra, Kalimantan
and Sulawesi by removing their legal foundation.
“This is because the RTRW uses map attachments from a ministerial
decree that was issued after Sept. 30, 1999,” he said.
In addition, Greenomics said the ruling would also affect the Master
Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic
Development (MP3EI) because some of the economic programs included in
the MP3EI were based on ministerial decrees issued after Sept. 30,
1999, when the Forestry Law became effective.
In a separate interview, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that
the ruling did not disadvantage any party, including businesspeople.“There is no party that is disadvantaged by the ruling,” Zulkifli told the Post.
He said the ruling benefited the government because it could help
speed up the program to establish forest boundaries in the country.
“This will strengthen efforts in establishing the forest land-use plan
[TGHK],” he said.
The minister added that the TGHK was very important for Indonesia as
the country possessed some 95 million hectares of forested land — the
largest amount in Southeast Asia — and played an important role in the
global fight against climate change and reducing gas emissions.
In addition, he said he had urged all regents across the country to
make an extra effort to accelerate the establishment of forest
boundary areas in their respective regions. He gave local governments
three months to complete the task.
According to Tahrir Fathoni, the ministry’s human resources
development chief, the ministry has requested assistance from
consultants and academics to help accelerate the task.
Tahrir said the ministry had outsourced more than 1,000 people to get
the job done.Normally, it takes a full year to obtain the results of a boundary area. (nfo)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/03/03/court-decision-upsets-plantation-companies.html
The Constitutional Court’s recent decision to approve a request from a
number of local governments to change an article in the Forestry Law
has raised uncertainties over the legal status of land owned by
plantation companies and forest concession owners.
The chairman of the Indonesian Forestry Businessmen Association
(APHI), Nanang Rofandi, said in Jakarta on Friday that with the
court’s decision, the association’s members felt that the status of
their land had become uncertain.
“The ruling raises a lot of questions and confusion among us and we
now have no certainty in carrying out our business,” Nanang told The
Jakarta Post.
On Feb. 21, the court issued a ruling to drop the phrase “allocated
and/or”, which appears in the third paragraph of the Forestry Law’s
first article, at the request of regents from five regencies in
Central Kalimantan on the ground that the phrase made the article
contrary to the 1945 Constitution.
The regents also argued that the full sentence, which reads: “A
forested area is a certain area that is ‘allocated and/or’ determined
by the government as a permanent forest area”, gave an absolute
authority to the central government to declare some of their areas as
permanent forests.
With the original article, the plaintiff said, the central government
had the power to determine non-forest areas, which are already owned
by local people, to become forest areas. But legal experts say that
the removal of the phrase could lend even more power to the government
in determining forest areas.
Legal expert Hikmahanto Juwana, who is also the dean of the University
of Indonesia’s Law Faculty, said the deletion of the phrase did not
really change the meaning because there was no explanation on the
legal implication of the change.
“When we talk about the government, which government are we talking
about? The word ‘government’ is misleading because it can mean the
central government or the local government,” Hikmahanto told the Post.
He said that both central and local governments should sit together
and discuss further about the forestry issue. He also said that the
ruling still needed to make an explanation in order to make everything
clear.
“We discussed this issue at the Forestry Ministry today. We want them
to issue circulars that will help us to retain legality in our
business,” he said.
In line with the APHI, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association
(GAPKI) also said that the legality of palm oil business activity in
Indonesia has become unclear following the courts’ decision.
“The ruling brings a lot of problems. We are going to consult with
legal experts about this issue in order to get some clarity for our
business,” GAPKI’s executive director, Fadhil Hasan, told the Post.
In a separate interview, Greenomics Indonesia executive director
Elfian Effendi said that all the Forestry Ministry’s decrees on
provincial forestry area allocations issued after Sept. 30, 1999, no
longer had a legal base as one of the reasons why the court decided to
change the article was because it contravened the Constitution.
Elfian added that the court’s ruling also effectively delegitimized
the presidential decrees on new permits and prime forest management,
and the forest spatial management plan (RTRW) in Sumatra, Kalimantan
and Sulawesi by removing their legal foundation.
“This is because the RTRW uses map attachments from a ministerial
decree that was issued after Sept. 30, 1999,” he said.
In addition, Greenomics said the ruling would also affect the Master
Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic
Development (MP3EI) because some of the economic programs included in
the MP3EI were based on ministerial decrees issued after Sept. 30,
1999, when the Forestry Law became effective.
In a separate interview, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that
the ruling did not disadvantage any party, including businesspeople.“There is no party that is disadvantaged by the ruling,” Zulkifli told the Post.
He said the ruling benefited the government because it could help
speed up the program to establish forest boundaries in the country.
“This will strengthen efforts in establishing the forest land-use plan
[TGHK],” he said.
The minister added that the TGHK was very important for Indonesia as
the country possessed some 95 million hectares of forested land — the
largest amount in Southeast Asia — and played an important role in the
global fight against climate change and reducing gas emissions.
In addition, he said he had urged all regents across the country to
make an extra effort to accelerate the establishment of forest
boundary areas in their respective regions. He gave local governments
three months to complete the task.
According to Tahrir Fathoni, the ministry’s human resources
development chief, the ministry has requested assistance from
consultants and academics to help accelerate the task.
Tahrir said the ministry had outsourced more than 1,000 people to get
the job done.Normally, it takes a full year to obtain the results of a boundary area. (nfo)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/03/03/court-decision-upsets-plantation-companies.html
Minggu, 05 Februari 2012
Exclusive: Indonesia to set up $5.6 billion plantation firm
By Janeman Latul and Fathiya Dahrul
JAKARTA | Thu Feb 2, 2012 6:24am EST
(Reuters) - Indonesia's government plans to create one of the world's
largest palm oil and rubber firms in March by combining state planters
with total assets of $5.6 billion, a government minister told Reuters on
Thursday.
A planned listing of the firm will tap investor interest in a country
with a recently acquired "investment grade" rating and create a rival to
top regional planters such as Malaysia's Sime Darby and Singapore's Wilmar.
The government will consolidate the assets of 15 state firms, whose
revenues last year stood at around 40 trillion rupiah ($4.45 billion),
under parent company PT Perkebunan Nusantara III.
"This holding will become one of the largest plantation firms in the
world with one million hectares of palm oil and rubber," State
Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said in an interview.
The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands is the world's biggest
exporter of palm oil, second biggest producer of rubber and robusta
coffee and third biggest producer of cocoa . The state firms produce all
these commodities as well as tea, rice, cassava and sugar.
Analysts said the consolidation of the state firms would produce some
economies of scale but would not have a dramatic impact on commodity supply.
"They have been producing. It is not new supply coming into the market.
This is just a rationalization of government linked assets," said Carey
Wong, an analyst with OCBC Bank in Singapore.
The last mega-plantation merger was in 2008 when Malaysia's government
pushed for the tie-up of three state-linked planters to form Sime Darby,
which it touted as the largest plantation firm by assets.
BORNEO RICE BOWL
Indonesian state plantation firms will combine to produce an extra
500,000 tonnes of rice from planting 100,000 hectares of new paddy
fields in east Kalimantan on Borneo island, Iskan said, without giving a
timeframe for the production.
Indonesia <http://www.reuters.com/places/indonesia>, the world's fourth
largest country by population, is trying to become self-sufficient in
production of its staple grain. But it surprised regional markets last
year with hefty imports from Thailand and Vietnam. Expanding paddies
could help its aim not to import again this year.
"I expect Indonesia could produce an additional 280,000-300,000 tonnes
of paddy from the newly planted areas of 100,000 hectares," said
Chookiat Ophaswongse, the honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters
Association.
Plantation firms have been restricted this year from expanding in
forested areas such as Borneo by Indonesia's two-year moratorium on new
forest clearance and land acquisition is in any case seen as a hurdle in
a country known for red tape.
Indonesia in December passed a land bill designed to speed up land
acquisition for state projects deemed in the public interest and the law
could enable the new firm to get access to land for rice.
TOP LANDBANK
Iskan said the combined profits of the firms to be amalgamated were
around 3.6 trillion rupiah. The government plans to first list one of
the firms, PT Perkebunan Nusantara VII, as a unit of the holding firm
this year on Jakarta's stock exchange.
" After PTPN VII, we're open for other units to list on the stock
exchange but eventually we will list the parent company and I don't
think we should retain a majority stake once it is listed," Iskan said.
The combined palm oil and rubber landbank of the holding company
Perkebunan Nusantara III will be bigger than that of the main existing
listed regional planters. Sime Darby currently tops the list with
525,795 hectares for palm oil and has a market value of $18.2 billion.
Analysts said the new Indonesian merger's hefty landbank would pull in
investors.
"It is massive. They are talking about a million hectares. That would be
massive. I'm sure the stock market will be very excited," said John
Rachmat, a palm oil analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore.
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-indonesia-plantation-idUSTRE8110QC20120202
JAKARTA | Thu Feb 2, 2012 6:24am EST
(Reuters) - Indonesia's government plans to create one of the world's
largest palm oil and rubber firms in March by combining state planters
with total assets of $5.6 billion, a government minister told Reuters on
Thursday.
A planned listing of the firm will tap investor interest in a country
with a recently acquired "investment grade" rating and create a rival to
top regional planters such as Malaysia's Sime Darby and Singapore's Wilmar.
The government will consolidate the assets of 15 state firms, whose
revenues last year stood at around 40 trillion rupiah ($4.45 billion),
under parent company PT Perkebunan Nusantara III.
"This holding will become one of the largest plantation firms in the
world with one million hectares of palm oil and rubber," State
Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said in an interview.
The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands is the world's biggest
exporter of palm oil, second biggest producer of rubber and robusta
coffee and third biggest producer of cocoa . The state firms produce all
these commodities as well as tea, rice, cassava and sugar.
Analysts said the consolidation of the state firms would produce some
economies of scale but would not have a dramatic impact on commodity supply.
"They have been producing. It is not new supply coming into the market.
This is just a rationalization of government linked assets," said Carey
Wong, an analyst with OCBC Bank in Singapore.
The last mega-plantation merger was in 2008 when Malaysia's government
pushed for the tie-up of three state-linked planters to form Sime Darby,
which it touted as the largest plantation firm by assets.
BORNEO RICE BOWL
Indonesian state plantation firms will combine to produce an extra
500,000 tonnes of rice from planting 100,000 hectares of new paddy
fields in east Kalimantan on Borneo island, Iskan said, without giving a
timeframe for the production.
Indonesia <http://www.reuters.com/places/indonesia>, the world's fourth
largest country by population, is trying to become self-sufficient in
production of its staple grain. But it surprised regional markets last
year with hefty imports from Thailand and Vietnam. Expanding paddies
could help its aim not to import again this year.
"I expect Indonesia could produce an additional 280,000-300,000 tonnes
of paddy from the newly planted areas of 100,000 hectares," said
Chookiat Ophaswongse, the honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters
Association.
Plantation firms have been restricted this year from expanding in
forested areas such as Borneo by Indonesia's two-year moratorium on new
forest clearance and land acquisition is in any case seen as a hurdle in
a country known for red tape.
Indonesia in December passed a land bill designed to speed up land
acquisition for state projects deemed in the public interest and the law
could enable the new firm to get access to land for rice.
TOP LANDBANK
Iskan said the combined profits of the firms to be amalgamated were
around 3.6 trillion rupiah. The government plans to first list one of
the firms, PT Perkebunan Nusantara VII, as a unit of the holding firm
this year on Jakarta's stock exchange.
" After PTPN VII, we're open for other units to list on the stock
exchange but eventually we will list the parent company and I don't
think we should retain a majority stake once it is listed," Iskan said.
The combined palm oil and rubber landbank of the holding company
Perkebunan Nusantara III will be bigger than that of the main existing
listed regional planters. Sime Darby currently tops the list with
525,795 hectares for palm oil and has a market value of $18.2 billion.
Analysts said the new Indonesian merger's hefty landbank would pull in
investors.
"It is massive. They are talking about a million hectares. That would be
massive. I'm sure the stock market will be very excited," said John
Rachmat, a palm oil analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore.
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-indonesia-plantation-idUSTRE8110QC20120202
Peta Navigasi Studi Agraria
Sketsa Perkembangan Reforma Agraria dan Studi Agraria: Sekelumit "Peta Navigasi"
by Shohib Sifatar on Wednesday, 1 February 2012 at 18:17
Pengantar
Peta navigasi ternyata diperlukan bukan hanya untuk penerbangan pesawat di udara, namun juga untuk perdebatan reforma agraria.
Banyak diskusi mengenai reforma agraria di tanah air, dalam kesan saya, kerap tidak jelas arahnya karena mereka yang berdebat sering membayangkan "titik koordinat" berbeda saat sama-sama berbicara reforma agraria. Hal ini tak ubahnya seperti berdebat pada "arah mata angin" yang sama tetapi dengan "level ketinggian" yang berbeda, atau dengan "level ketinggian" yang sama namun "arah mata angin"-nya berbeda. Akibatnya diskusi tidak berjalan produktif dan mencerahkan, dalam arti dapat mengantarkan pesertanya pada pemahaman yang lebih baik mengenai masalah reforma agraria—terlepas apapun sikap yang diambil masing-masing setelahnya.
Salah satu contoh "ketiadaan navigasi" itu tercermin pada sikap “setengah curiga” dari sebagian kalangan pejuang reforma agraria terhadap studi kritis agraria. Daripada melihatnya sebagai "mitra tanding" untuk mengembangkan praktik reforma agraria yang lebih baik, studi kritis semacam itu terkadang lebih dianggap sesuatu yang melemahkan perjuangan reforma agraria sendiri. Contoh kecilnya tampak antara lain dalam “debat lama” antara apakah yang mesti diutamakan adalah mengupayakan kepastian penguasaan tanah yang sudah diduduki rakyat ataukah mempedulikan pula kecenderungan diferensiasi agraria dan elitisme yang mulai tampak di antara mereka. Begitu juga, antara devolusi penguasaan hutan dengan kecenderungan diferensiasi manfaat di antara anggota komunitas yang menjadi penerima devolusi tersebut. Sikap yang kurang lebih sama, namun dengan alasan yang sama sekali berbeda, juga sering dikemukakan oleh para birokrat agraria.
Dalam kutub berlawanan, terdapat kalangan yang cenderung skeptis terhadap reforma agraria ini dan kerap mengkritisinya dengan cara yang amat simplistis. Hal ini tampak misalnya dalam kecenderungan mendikotomikan reforma agraria dengan isu ekologi, bahwa land reform niscaya akan menimbulkan masalah lingkungan di tengah pertumbuhan populasi yang terus menanjak tinggi. Begitu pula, ia tampak dalam berbagai pandangan yang mereproduksi skeptisisme lama bahwa land reform kepada petani miskin justru tidak akan produktif, dan tanah itu dengan mudah akan dijual lagi oleh si petani karena usahatani demikian memang tidak memenuhi skala ekonomi yang menguntungkan.[1] Kritisisme yang terlampau simplistis ini dilontarkan dengan mudah seolah apa yang disebut sebagai reforma agraria itu bersifat tunggal dan tidak bernuansa. Padahal, diskursus dan praktik mengenai reforma agraria ini sangatlah dinamis, dan dalam perkembangannya telah melahirkan banyak keragaman dan variasi.
Akibatnya, dalam kedua kasus di atas, apa yang sering terjadi adalah situasi yang suka saya istilahkan sebagai "sindrom teh botol ●●●●●". Seperti kita tahu, pesan utama iklan ini adalah: "Apapun makanannya, teh botol ●●●●● minumannya." Mengambil perumpamaan iklan ini, saya khawatir, bagi para pendukung fanatik reforma agraria, yang terjadi adalah: "Apapun masalahnya, reforma agraria jawabannya!" Sebaliknya, bagi mereka yang cenderung menentangnya, hal sebaliknya yang terjadi, yakni: "Apapun bentuk reforma agrarianya, hanya permasalahan yang ditimbulkannya!"[2] Kedua posisi semacam ini jelas tidak bisa mendukung berjalannya diskusi dan debat yang produktif.
lebih lengkap silahkan klik link berikut ini:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/shohib-sifatar/sketsa-perkembangan-reforma-agraria-dan-studi-agraria-sekelumit-peta-navigasi/10150638152051224?ref=notif¬if_t=comment_mention
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