Guiding
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| Orientierungsrahmen: Bodenrecht und Bodenordnung |
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit Abt. 45 / Div. 45 |
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Ulrich Löffler,
(1996): 3.3.4 Agrarian Structure Uneven distribution of land is not a new phenomenon on Java. One could, for example, distinguish between three classes on West Java even in pre-colonial times:
The first statistical data, from the findings of a study conducted in 1905, show an uneven distribution of control over land in West Java. The results of this study, known as the "Declining Welfare Inquiry" of "Mindere Welvaart-Onderzoek", shows that a large proportion (51 %) of the rural households were landless. Two-thirds (67 %) of the landowners owned less than 0.7 ha, and 7 % of the households controlled more than 4.2 ha of land.[FN 91] Many rural households controlled dozens of hectares of land.[FN 92] The results of the Agricultural Census [FN 93] conducted in 1963, 1973, 1983 and 1993 have continued to reflect the imbalance over control of land. According to the agrarian census of 1993, there are about 19.7 million land-holding farm households [FN 94] in Indonesia (from a total of about 42 million households). Of these, around 9.6 million land-holding farm households (or about 49 %) have less than 0.5 ha, and 14 million land-holding farm households (or about 71 %) have less than 1 ha of land (see also table 2).[FN 95] Table 2: Number of Land Holding Farm Household by Size of Land Controlled and Farm Household Classification [FN 96]
On Java, the land holdings are even smaller on average. In 1993, for example, more than 40 % of the farms on West Java had an area less than 0.2 ha, and about 73 % of the farms had an area less than 0.5 ha Only 0.2 % of the farms on West Java have an area of more than 5 ha.[FN 97] Apart from land holding size, interest has to be focused on land quality. Ten acres of high quality land, irrigated and suitable for rice crops can be large enough to support a farm family, while ten acres of rainfed land in a remote upland area might be insufficient for the livelihood of a cultivator’s family.[FN 98] But also on irrigated rice fields cropping intensity can vary enormously. Cropping intensity ranges from 64 percent (in Kalimantan) to 224 percent (in East Java).[FN 99] On Java land is usually divided in home gardens (Pekarangan), wet rice fields (Sawah) and rain-fed fields (Tegalan). The irrigated areas are concentrated in Java (2,535,000 ha or 57,8 % of the total irrigated areas). [FN 100] It is difficult to secure reliable land area figures for areas outside Java. But in general the land holding sizes seem in the outer islands to be larger than in Java. The land / person ratio in the Sanggau District in West Kalimantan, for example, was 4.14 ha / person in 1991. However, if population figures were related only to land not classified as forest land, the resulting land / person ratio was 1.93 ha / person. [FN 101] The agrarian census form 1983 also indicated that 14 % of the total operated area in Indonesia is rented-in land. The amount of rented-in land (2,830,000 ha) exceeded by far the amount of land rented out (around 800,000 ha). There were several reasons given for this:[FN 102]
Nearly half the rented-in land is in holdings under one hectare. On the other side only ca. 28 percent of the land rented-in is found in holdings over two hectares. Thus, it is difficult to support the claim that the existing land rented-in system leads to more land being transferred to the larger holdings. The reverse seems to be the case.[FN 103] It becomes clear from the agrarian structure briefly sketched here, that agriculture could only provide a part of the livelihood of many rural households and that they have to increase their income by taking employment outside agriculture.
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