Indonesian program’s promise of food security backfires for local farmers

Indonesia’s food estate program, billed as improving domestic food availability, has had the opposite effect on farmers recruited into the scheme, a new study shows.The research by NGOs shows that farmers in North Sumatra province saw their rice harvests decline by up to 80% as they were told to farm other crops for the program.And the harvests from those other crops, including potatoes and garlic, were not enough to make up for the loss of their rice harvests, due to the lower prices they fetched.The researchers warn that the food estate program also puts participating farmers at risk of losi…

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