by Biotani and GRAIN
Just under two years ago Indonesia’s central government launched a major hybrid rice programme. The plan was to convert over 135,000 ha of prime rice land to hybrid rice production by offering farmers free seeds, which the government would purchase from private seed companies. It was a great deal for seed companies, especially for those with the political connections to access the scheme– people like Tommy Winata, a local tycoon who had just recently set up a joint venture with a Chinese hybrid rice company.
For Indonesia’s farmers, it was a different story. By October of 2007, with the first season of the hybrid rice operation in full swing, those farmers who’d signed up to the scheme were experiencing major problems, and even complete crop failures. Some were burning their fields out of desperation.
“We are like a lottery as the government tests its variety,” said one farmer from the village of Dusun Karang Duwet, about 25 km south of Yogyakarta City, Central Java.
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