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Indonesia: Phased land-use planning for transmigration
Transmigration - the movement of large numbers of families from the overcrowded islands of Java, Bali and Madura to new settlements on the sparsely populated 'outer' islands of the Indonesian archipelago - is a major element in the national development programme of the Indonesian government. Careful land selection and planning is crucial to the success of such schemes. Recognizing this, the UK government provided the services of a multi-disciplinary team from the Land Resources Development Centre to assist the Indonesian authorities in planning site selection for transmigration in central Sumatra. The work, carried out between 1976 and 1979, was conducted in four phases.
Phase I: rapid reconnaisance for site identification.
Phase II: semi-detailed studies for site verification and evaluation.
Phase III: agro-economic analysis for site development.
Phase IV: detailed physical planning of village units.
The initial reconnaissance examined an area of 18000 km2 astride the Trans-Sumatra highway and eliminated land with steep topography or evidence of existing land use. Eight large sites proved worthy of more detailed study. Six of these were examined in Phase II which involved surveys at 1:40000 scale of soils, land use, drainage and slope associations. Land suitability was assessed for six defined land utilization types: villages and houselots; dryland arable farming with minor tree crops; tree crops; wetland arable farming; pastureland; and fuelwood and timber plantation.
The main constraint to settlement on all sites was found to be low soil fertility. High fertilizer inputs would be needed to maintain crop yields and, for this reason, none of the soils were more than marginally suitable for arable cropping. To minimize soil erosion, arable cropping was not recommended on slopes greater than 8 percent. It had been anticipated that the six sites would provide land for 60000 settler families, but the study concluded that only 31165 families could be accommodated. Details of the findings on land availability are shown in the table below.
Phase III work entailed the formulation and detailed economic appraisal of development plans for one of the sites (Kuamang Kuning). Four systems of smallholder arable cropping were examined (with and without treecrops, and with and without irrigation) together with the possibility of establishing a nucleus rubber/oil palm estate. The study provided valuable information applicable in principle to all the sites and showed that the prospects for a nucleus estate were favourable.
In Phase IV the detailed layout of village centres, houselots, family holdings and general infrastructure was worked out for two village units within Kuamang Kuning, taking account of land suitability, social environment, future development needs and infrastructure requirements. The project clearly demonstrated the advantages of a phased approach in which time-consuming detailed work is confined to areas where it will be of immediate value. The Phase I and II procedures have since been widely adopted, with minor modification, in transmigration planning. The Phase III and IV procedures provided valuable insights to general problems but have proved too elaborate to be accepted as standard.
|
Availability of land on possible settlement sites in Central Sumatra, Indonesia (ha) | ||||||
|
possible settlement site |
area examined |
used land |
unused land | |||
|
already intensively used |
only lightly used |
suitable for mixed arable/tree crops |
suitable for tree crops only |
swampy or too steep for development | ||
|
Alai Hilir |
65900 |
9000 |
7180 |
22090 |
27630 |
- |
|
Singkut |
48500 |
6660 |
10450 |
24250 |
2340 |
4800 |
|
Kuamang Kuning |
60000 |
- |
3140 |
42860 |
14000 |
- |
|
Kubang Ujo |
41600 |
3170 |
560 |
15670 |
6400 |
15800 |
|
Hitam Ulu |
81500 |
- |
5950 |
52460 |
1460 |
21630 |
|
Sungai Tambangan |
25300 |
6150 |
4170 |
7140 |
- |
7840 |
|
TOTAL |
322800 |
24980 |
31450 |
164470 |
51830 |
50070 |