TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The enthusiastic plan of the Joko Widodo administration to redistribute land should proceed only after proper calculations are made. Without relevant studies and careful calculation, this economic equalization policy could go off track and end up creating new inequalities. This would go against the initial objectives of implementing the Agrarian Reforms project.

Implementing this program, which was launched last week, will not be easy, especially since over the next two years, the government wants to give away land deeds and redistribute 4.5 million hectares. The biggest challenge will be in ensuring the availability of fallow land and releasing forest lands for this redistribution plan. Then, how will the government identify the beneficiaries of this policy?

The government has decided that the main recipients will be farmers, fish-pond breeders, plantation workers and landless livestock owners. The problem is that it will not be possible to distribute the assets if there is an imbalance between land availability and demand.

Data on the ground shows there is a huge gap between the availability and demand for land. Most of the available land is scattered across seven provinces outside Java, with around 0.5 million hectares in each of the provinces of Central Kalimantan, Papua, Riau, South Sumatra and West Papua.

The problem is the government cannot simply parcel out this land because the requirements and the number of poor people there is relatively small. If the government insists on going ahead, the distribution of assets to a small number of people will lead to new inequalities.

The opposite applies to Java, where only 0.3 million hectares is available, but where poverty and unemployment are higher than in those other regions. A government effort to persuade these people to migrate to other islands with abundant land is not a simple solution.

The success or failure of the government’s redistribution of assets depends on two things. First, ministries and government agencies will have to agree on a definition of fallow land. Thus far, they have been unable to agree on this despite the program needing a commitment from the government to take control of fallow land, with a target set at 0.4 million hectares.

Secondly, the government will need to demand and then verify the release of 20 percent of forest land for plantations. The Plantation Law obliges concession holders to set aside 20 percent of company land for the people living adjacent to it. But this 20 percent contribution has never been checked out, even though the plan is to make 4.1 million hectares available for redistribution.

The Agrarian Reforms project is not a new idea. During the previous administration, the 9-million-hectare program became a way of sharing out land conversion rights to a tiny number of businessmen. But releasing productive forest land for conversion into oil palm plantations and industrial farming only increased inequality. To no one’s surprise, the Gini index for landowners soared to 0.59. This mistake must not be repeated.

The government should be realistic and realize that this program cannot stand on its own, especially if the aim is to overcome inequality. The government must consider a supporting scheme so that recipients of this program can be empowered because managers of forests and fallow land need capital and skills. Without this, the Agrarian Reforms project will never be more than a slogan. (*)

Read the full story in this week’s edition of Tempo English Magazine