TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the Joko Widodo administrations huge rice self-sufficiency project, farmers seem to have become nothing more than extras. Instead of benefiting from the multi-trillion-rupiah- per-year project, they have been sidelined.

The mantra of achieving self-sufficiency in rice is to increase production as quickly as possible. With each family of farmers cultivating an average of 0.39 hectares according to the 2013 census this is impossible to realize. Therefore, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, decided to implement a project to lay out millions of hectares of paddy fields.

In order to achieve the target more quickly, and perhaps more cheaply, the government involved the Indonesian Military (TNI). Soldiers subsequently deployed tractors and other machinery. But the use of troops in civilian projects is clearly a breach of the principles of public administration and democracy. And according to the Indonesian Ombudsman, this type of cooperation must be based on a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions, not on a presidential instruction.

On another level, the use of soldiers in the laying out of paddy fields is also at odds with the main aim, namely to improve the welfare of farmers. Several surveys have shown that the level of poverty in the countryside is far higher than in cities. And hidden unemployment in rural areas is higher than in urban regions. The use of troops to lay out paddy fields will mean fewer opportunities to reduce poverty and hidden unemployment in the countryside.

Rather than paying trillions of rupiah of project funds to the TNI, the government could provide incentives to businesses willing to lay out paddy fields. And the government could involve and pay suitable wages to farmers. This would slow down the project, which may mean it does not achieve its political aims.

According to an Agriculture Ministry press release, the use of the TNI will make the laying out of paddy fields optimal and cheap. But the fact is that things have not gone well in several regions. For example, in South Kalimantan and West Sulawesi, the paddy fields laid out by soldiers are overgrown with weeds. In Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi and Jeneponto, South Sulawesi, soldiers recruited private companies as subcontractors. There are indications of markups in these sub contracted projects.

In 2016, it was found that 40 percent of the Rp3 trillion budgeted for the TNI had already been paid out before the design investigation survey had been carried out, despite this survey being the main condition of funds being released. The aims of speed and efficiency have led to the project being implemented hastily, because following rules seen as slowing down the laying out of paddy fields.

It is very likely that more problems will arise, especially if the government failed to involve groups of farmers who can guarantee that the new paddy fields will be properly cultivated, as specified in the Technical Guidelines for Farming Rice on Paddy Fields TA 2017.

Without changes to the rules, farmers will receive no benefits at all from this project. The paddy fields laid out will be neglected and become a 'monument' to the failure of the Jokowi administration's prestige project.

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