Abandoned Land Utilization for Food Security: A Welfare-Based Policy Approach in Indonesia

Concerning its land law system, Indonesia rests on Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning the Regulations on Basic Agrarian Principles (Basic Agrarian Law) which is the legislation on land. In terms of land ownership, there is a greater emphasis on the individual land ownership aspect. It is important to make the land tenure status clear in the case of the transfer of land rights [1]. Article 33 clause (3) of the Republic of Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution contains the basis and simultaneously the directives for the political development of land law and other natural resources, including the Basic Agrarian Law [2]. As an agrarian country with agriculture as one of the basic sectors of the nation's economy, the Indonesian government needs to inspire a philosophical foundation in managing natural resources as enshrined in the constitution which states that the earth, water and natural resources contained therein are controlled by the state and are used as much as possible for the prosperity of the people. Interpreting natural management means returning to the sovereignty of the Indonesian people which includes a paradigm called public ownership by the people's collectiveness of the said resources [3].

Today, issues on land have become very important in Indonesia. Such issues are mainly related to the availability of access to land and land use between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, which impact land shrinkage and the lack of land use. The area of raw rice fields has decreased from 77,500 million m² in 2013 to 71,000 million m² in 2019 [4]. Of the 43,000 million m² of land with business use permits, 28,000 million m² are used for plantations. Meanwhile, the rest which is 15,000 million m² is not used for its designation [5]. The Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency database shows indications of abandoned land collected from 2010-2019. It showed that there are as many as 4,042 plots covering an area of 29,278,090,000 m² which are indicated as abandoned land [6].

Based on the description of the data above, there is a contradiction between Indonesia as a country with an agricultural economic base and the condition where most Indonesian farmers do not own land. Even if they do, they only have a small or even a very small portion of land [7]. In fact, land ownership and control have broad economic, social and political implications. Farmers in rural areas cannot escape the trap of poverty because they are classified as small farmers with an average land tenure of less than 5,000 m² [8]. The low chance for farmers to work on greater plantation lands implies to the decreasing productivity of agricultural produce. This will impact the national food resilience that does not guarantee domestic-level food resilience [9]. This happens even though food resilience at the lowest level in households are a requirement to achieve national-level food resilience.

The government tries to provide a solution to farmers’ access towards agricultural lands through the Agrarian Reform by utilizing the existing lands. This is in line with what was mandated in the Decision of the People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia No. IX/MPR/2001. But up to now, such efforts have not been optimally realized. This lack of optimization is caused by two factors, namely: First, there is a lack of legal protection in the form of special laws on the Agrarian Reform and there is only a Governmental Regulation with an instrumentalist (subjective) characteristic that does not answer the root of the problem, namely making sure of the farmers’ access to agricultural lands. Second, the factor of land management that orients towards the free market. This results in the abandonment of lands as the land tenure holder only seeks profits from the increasing land price and not utilize them for agriculture.

The efforts that can be carried out to respond to the factors on the lack of optimization of land utilization as mentioned above is by determining the direction of land utilization policies that is based on welfare, and not only depart from legal values (making sure of special laws on Agrarian Reform) [10], But it should also depart from morality values (making sure that the land management is based on the Maqasid al-Shari'ah theory so that it is according to the noble values of the Sharia, as well as regulations on society and civilization). These morality values are hoped to inhibit the human desire to deviate from legal regulations. This is to stem the influence of the capitalist ideology which views that nature only functions to satisfy the fulfilment of human needs. Meanwhile, the divine ideology provides an awareness that nature is a mandate from God that is used for the benefit of humans, which must be preserved. From an Islamic perspective, the Holy Qur'an has become a guide for human life. It provides a knowledge construction that is built with the aim so that we become wise beings. On that basis, we can form behavior based on the normative values of the Qur'an, both at the moral and social levels [11].

Based on the description above, the government needs to resolve the problem of land utilization, especially concerning abandoned lands, as part of agrarian reform. This problem very important because the number of abandoned lands always increase every year and this can be the cause of the decreasing food production and welfare. This research specially discusses this issue. The government needs to carry out many things to facilitate and provide options related to policies to resolve the problem of land utilization as agrarian reform objects. One of them is the effort to utilize the land for the object of welfare-based agrarian reform by building construction of land use to achieve real prosperity.

3.1 Policies on abandoned land utilization in Indonesia

The great number of abandoned lands is still a complicated problem and the settlement process tends to be protracted. The 1945 Constitution as the state constitution and Law Number 5 of 1960 on the Basic Agrarian Principles as its derivative, do not allow abandoned land to exist in Indonesia. Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution states: "Earth and water and the natural resources contained therein are controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the people."

The land that is spread all over the country has a social function that emphasizes the importance of land protection for the greatest welfare of society. In this case, it includes the fact that land cannot be left abandoned. On the contrary, they must be utilized. This is stated in Article 6 of Law on the Basic Agrarian Principles that is a reflection of the stipulations of Article 33 clause (3) of the Republic of Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution as a stipulation that emphasizes the importance of land protection for the greatest welfare of society. The principle of the social functions on the right of land encompasses the principle that is manifested in various legal norms to give acknowledgement to land, which guarantees good land utilization for all society [14].

The 1945 Constitution is a crucial stipulation for the state of Indonesia as it is an applicable basic law. All laws in Indonesia with varying levels cannot contradict the 1945 Constitution. Meanwhile, the Law on the Basic Agrarian Principles is the only applicable law concerning agraria. As the law on agraria, all implementing regulations related to agraria must be derived and sourced from this law.

In order to use the land for the greatest benefit of the people and to achieve prosperity, at the operational level, the government issued Government Regulation No. 11 of 2010 on Control and Utilization of Abandoned Land [15]. The issuance of Government Regulation No. 11 of 2010 shows that Indonesia is one of the countries that have a high concern in eradicating poverty through land use mechanisms. This is in accordance with the results of the 2006 International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) in Porto Alegre Brazil in March 2006 [16].

In formulating regulations, policymakers are required to always make profound considerations. In this aspect, policymakers are asked to consider certain policy criteria, such as costs and benefits, the interests of small entities, the impact of regulations on the environment, economic competitiveness, certain groups such as certain community groups, minorities, etc.

This is to achieve the goals policymakers desire. However, based on the results of the National Land Agency's (BPN) identification in 2021. Data shown that 73,000 million m² of land is indicated as abandoned in Indonesia. Then, 459 parcels of land were declared abandoned [17], covering an area of 48,000 million m².

The data collected from the BPN is actual data. The BPN has valid data, because in Indonesia, it is the only institution that has a complete and detailed data on land, agrarian maps, as well as who owns or manages the land tenure. The data are valid data owned by the BPN considering that all agrarian databases are managed by the BPN. There is a potential bias in the BPN reports but with a tiny margin as there are still agrarian data that are in the process of submission, in the process of the shift of rights, and other processes that can be categorized as different data.

The problem of abandoned land is mostly caused by land use permits that are not in accordance with their designation. This is because the process of land speculation is controlled by entrepreneurs with various permits for a profit.

This is because the speculation process of the land owned by entrepreneurs with various permits is solely aimed for profit. This profit is in the form of a permit that is submitted for land utilization through the Business Usage Rights, and then they were abandoned and were only made to become collateral in banks. Another case is that when a person obtains the rights for land, he just waits for the optimum land price increase before selling it. If the price is not yet deemed profitable, the owner will just let the land be. The Business Usage Rights certificate can only be used as a collateral after a minimum of a three-year usage of that land as stipulated on the Letter of the State Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Head of the BPN dated September 17, 1998 No. 630.1-3433, on the certificate collateral on the land management rights, that the imposition of mortgage rights of Business Usage Rights requires a written agreement from the holder of the management rights [18]. Seeing that the land usage permit is not according to its stipulations, the government declared that the area of abandoned lands was 344,480,000 m² in 2022. From this area, 251,280,000 m² were owned by 12 legal entities, while the rest (93,200,000 m²) is part of the abandoned Business Usage Rights owned by 24 legal entities [19]. If the abandoned lands are only left alone, the impact that may happen is that there will be an increase in the social gap. If such an issue is left without any firm regulations, it may result in social conflicts among communities. Apart from that, if the government does not strictly bring order to abandoned lands, slowly but surely, the government will be faced with the impacts in the form of the nation’s weakening economy. It will decrease the stability in the availability of food reserve in the nation.

In consequence, as a whole, abandoned land also causes a physical land crisis. Abandoned land causes greater erosion. It damages the quality of the soil. In the long term, abandoned soil also causes loss of soil fertility, disruption of nutrient cycles, and depletion of the soil’s organic layer [20].

At the implementation level, the abandoned land policy through Government Regulation No. 11 of 2010 has a weakness, namely it cannot function as a driver or stimulant for the development of agricultural productivity [21]. Every government regulation formulation should be able to provide encouragement and stimulation, as well as control for the addressed object. This can be seen from the criteria used in determining abandoned land. The criteria for the area of the cultivated land cannot provide an illustration of the actual productivity that can be achieved from the land management process. For example, a 3-year-old rubber plant will yield 6,000 kg 10,000 m² year^-1 of rubber latex if it is planted at the S2 level of land suitability criteria. It is different if it is planted on soil with a land suitability level of S1, then rubber plants will give a production yield of 9,000 kg 10000 m² year^-1. With this condition, the criteria for abandoned land should be changed from the criteria for a land area to a benchmark for land productivity. Productivity benchmarks will provide a fairer picture for the community and entrepreneurs as well as an effective controlling element for the government. This benchmark also provides a more realistic picture of the land area criteria.

The latest policy regarding abandoned land in 2021 has changed to the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of 2021 on the Control of Abandoned Areas and Lands. This law aims to reorganize abandoned lands by their right holders and re-enter them into the social, economic, and political system of asset management. This abandoned land is planned to be allocated to the community and respond quickly to strategic state programs such as food, energy, infrastructure, and public housing.

The regulation states that what Article 1 clause (2) means by abandoned land are: land rights, land rights of management, and land obtained based based on control over land, which is intentionally not cultivated, not used, not utilized, and/or not maintained. The issuance of abandoned land is carried out after an evaluation of the land as described in Article 23 clause (1). The evaluation of abandoned land aims to ensure that the right holder, management right holder, or basic land ownership holder cultivates, uses, utilizes, and/or maintains the land owned or controlled. After an evaluation has been carried out and it is proven that there is abandoned land, the Head of the Regional Office gives a warning as described in Article 28, namely:

1. The first written warning as referred to in clause (1) contains a warning that the right holder, management right holder, or basic land ownership holder shall cultivate, use, utilize, and/or maintain their land within a maximum period of 90 (ninety) calendar days from the date of receipt of the first warning letter;
2. In the event that the right holder, management right holder, or basic land ownership holder does not carry out the temporarily written warning as referred to in clause (2), the Head of the Regional Office shall issue a second written warning containing a warning that the rights holder, management right holder, or holders of basic control over land cultivate, use, utilize, and/or maintain their land within a maximum period of 45 (forty-five) calendar days from the date of receipt of the second warning letter; and
3. If the right holder, management right holder, or basic land ownership holder does not carry out the second written warning as referred to in clause (3), the Head of the Regional Office gives a third written warning containing a warning that the rights holder, management right holder, or the basis of control over land shall cultivate, use, utilize, and/or maintain the land within a maximum period of 30 (thirty) calendar days from the date of receipt of the third warning letter.

The allotment of control, ownership, use, and utilization of state land and formerly abandoned land is utilized for the benefit of the community and the state through agrarian reform and state strategic programs as well as for other state reserves. The state's strategic programs include the development of the food, energy, and public housing sectors that aim to improve the welfare of the community. Other state reserves include, among others, meeting the needs of land for the benefit of the government, defense and security, land needs due to natural disasters, as well as relocation and resettlement of communities affected by development for the public interest. The 2015-2019 National Medium Term Development Plan has stated that expired permits of business use and 6,000 million m² of abandoned land are under the authority of the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency. Table 1 below presents data on the achievement of control and utilization of abandoned land up to 2018 [22]:

Table 1. Achievement of issuance and utilization of abandoned land up to 2018

Source: Directorate of Control and Utilization of Abandoned Land, Land Information System Application, 2019

The data above is results of the review carried out by the National Land College (STPN/Sekolah Tinggi Pertanahan Nasional) as a high education institution which is overseen by the Republic of Indonesia’s Ministry of Agrarian Affairs/National Land Agency in 2019 in the form of a book entitled the Law Enforcement on the Declaration and Utilization of Abandoned Lands. The low achievement of abandoned land control, in general, is due to: a) regulatory aspects, the Governmental Regulation on abandoned land opens a wide space for interpretation. For example, there is the 'intentional and unintentional' norm regarding abandoned land. Then, the I, II, and III warning periods are too short, which is 3 months. It usually takes 3 months for the right holder to carry out land clearing activities and fix the permit; b) the human resources are limited in quality and quantity. In terms of quantity, the section that handles abandoned land is the Land Control Section/Sub-Section, which is mostly filled by 3 to 6 people. In terms of quality, the Land Control Section/Sub-Section is filled with mostly non-law graduates who sometimes misinterpret the regulatory norms; c) there is suboptimum coordination between agencies and weak coordination of Regional Offices in implementing land redistribution.

Then, obstacles in the implementation of the control of abandoned land are as follows [23]:

1. There is weak community participation. Society has the right to determine what choices they are willing to take to develop themselves [24]. This is because one of the requirements in following up on the reports in the form of complaints on an abandoned land’s existence is from society’s knowledge on the existence of an abandoned land in the location of the rights holder;
2. There is difficulty in notifying rights holders whose lands are suspected of being abandoned. In some cases, the right holders’ whereabouts are no longer known as they changed their address from the previous address they used when applying for rights or other reasons;
3. The holder of land rights used the land that was indicated as abandoned as collateral for an object of the mortgage. Thus, caution is needed because this involves the civil rights of individuals and legal entities related to the mortgage;
4. Former rights holders’ concept of civil rights is not yet clear on whether or not they are compensated. If compensation is given to former rights holders, it will require very large funds whose budget sources have not been determined;
5. Limited clean and clear, due to entry into forest areas, disputes, customary land claims, land use, and inappropriate provincial spatial plan;
6. The criteria for the subject of land redistribution beneficiaries are limited to only farmers and the absentee provisions must be reviewed.

This is to achieve welfare. But there are certainly some challenges that currently need to be anticipated, namely: (1) there is a weak guarantee of legal certainty on the right for land; (2) the implementation of land decentralization is not yet complete due to the lack of synchronization with existing regulations; (3) there is yet any solution on the gap and injustice in land control, ownership, use, and usage; (4) there is yet any solution on the misuse of land and the shift of technically irrigated land into non-agricultural land (for industries, services, and residential areas/property); and (5) the service in the land sector is still suboptimum [25]. These challenges show that land policies and management are still weak. This situation will bring negative impacts in the future.

3.2 Welfare-based abandoned land utilization policy in the context of food security management

Indonesia is a religious nation that recognizes that the earth, water, and space are gifts from the Creator, Allah (God). Sudjito views this provision as giving instructions so that the Indonesian people always maintain monotheism in dealing with and managing the country’s earth, water, space and natural resources. They must do so without turning away from Allah [26]. For this reason, government policies as well as support from the community are required [27]. Article 15 of the Basic Agrarian Law states that maintaining land, including increasing its fertility and preventing damage is the obligation of every person, legal entity or agency that has a legal relationship with the land, by taking those who are economically weak into account. Sudjito stated that substantively, the article is the embodiment of the Islamic land law, where humans are legal subjects who are given the role, authority, obligation, and right to control, manage, and take advantage of land and nature in general. But on the other hand, Islam prohibits humans place land and nature solely as objects in this life, making them authorized to do anything without responsibility.

The maqasid al-syari'ah management [28] was developed to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to provide benefits from abandoned land. As as-Syatibi explained, the maqasid al syariah management aims to bring benefits to the people. This means that it is better for the abandoned land to bring benefit to the people. In land affairs, especially the registration of land in order to have strong evidence is included in maqasid al-syari'ah management to maintain ownership of the land. Land ownership, especially personal and communal ownership is recognized. However, the maqashid al syariah principle of management can be emphasized in Government Regulation No. 24 on Land Registration. The policy of lands benefits for abandoned land needs to be aligned with the points in maqasid al-shari'ah management, namely:

1. The management policy needs to align with the principle of safeguarding the ownership and the use of the land. The land office has been given the task of arbitrarily reducing abandoned land. Arbitrary actions will eliminate the attitude of justice and ihsan (doing good deeds). This is because every institution that has been given a mandate must carry out its duties with responsibility, righteousness, and fairness, to create harmony and thus bring welfare to the people;
2. The management policy needs to align with the principle of protecting the land. Therefore. The government must be able to guarantee the protection of land from abandonment by being fair. Otherwise, it will have a bad impact on the community. This means that the government needs to give incentives (to farmers, for example) by building dams, roads, and access to land so that the land will be utilized. Utilization of land could bring welfare to the community. This governmental action which is based on maqashid al syariah management will bring good impacts. This is to prevent people from abandoning their land and falling into things that will harm themselves and their families.
3. The policy needs to align with the principle of maintaining peace and harmony. With peace and harmony, people will obtain a sense of security, peace, and tranquility. Unresolved disputes between families will lead to hereditary disputes that can bring negative effects. It may break the harmony and peace between families. The government must be able to provide a positive impact on the community to provide a good example of fair actions to the people. Fair action and law would bring positive impacts.
4. The policy needs to align with the principle of maintaining the property. Property is a core need of humankind. However, the maintenance of the property is limited by three conditions, namely: first, protecting the property, which is one of the vital aspects of maqashid al syariah management. Protecting property means preventing other people from stealing or using the land and property without a permit from the owner or destroying other people’s property. Second, it must be used for lawful things. Third, if there is any case of law violation, then the government must prosecute the offender according to the law. In terms of protecting the land, the land owner has the right to protect his assets from confiscation that has no legal force. The government must ensure the implementation of all mechanisms to prevent other people from depriving the rights that are legally attached to owners.
5. According to the maqashid al syariah management, the government must provide its citizens with distributed land, especially abandoned land which has never been owned before or is abandoned (in cases where the previous owner didn’t have an heir). This would prevent people from being homeless and poor. People could utilize the abandoned land for farming, fishing, or building homes after obtaining it from the government.

Table 2. Conversion rates and the area of Paddy fields in the nine rice-producing provinces between 2000 and 2015

Province	Analysis Period	Conversion Rate	Conversion Rate	Rice Field Area	Conversion Rate
	Year	m2 Period-1	m2 Year-1	m2	% Year-1
West Java	2000-2013	476,080,000	36,620,000	10,380,430,000	0.353
East Java	2000-2014	137,110,000	9,790,000	11,268,450,000	0.087
Bali	2000-2014	14,160,000	1,010,000	801,170,000	0.126
West Nusa Tenggara	2000-2014	16,330,000	1,170,000	2,360,240,000	0.049
South Kalimantan	2000-2014	79,910,000	5,710,000	4,515,640,000	0.126
South Sulawesi	2012-2014	28,040,000	14,020,000	5,901,830,000	0.238
Gorontalo	2012-2014	2,600,000	1,300,000	290,710,000	0.447
South Sumatera	2000-2015	712,480,000	47,500,000	6,174,240,000	0.769
North Sumatera	2000-2015	95,270,000	6,350,000	4,229,340,000	0.150
Total		1,561,980,000	123,470,000	45,922,050,000	0.269

Source: Based on the agreement figures between the Ministry of Agriculture, National Land Agency, and Indonesia Statistics (2013)

figure_1.jpg

Figure 1. The dimensions of food resilience management

The data above shows that the phenomenon of rice field conversion with a high conversion rate is not only dominated by the island of Java, but also the islands of Sumatra, Sulawesi, and even Kalimantan [30]. In the case of South Sumatra, the largest land conversion rate is for the expansion of oil palm plantations. In South Kalimantan, there has also been the conversion of paddy fields to oil palm plantations, but it is not as extensive as in South Sumatra.

The rapid conversion of paddy fields in South Sumatra seems to be related to the location of paddy fields which are generally located in peri-urban areas. South Sumatra is one of the provinces that is currently rapidly developing. The high rate of paddy field conversion in West Java Province is because this province has experienced land conversion for the expansion of cities such as the cities of Bandung, Soreang, Cimahi and West Bandung. The most extensive conversion of paddy fields occurred due to the development of settlements and offices, industrial areas and infrastructure development. In South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara, land conversion is not only for residential and industrial purposes but also for the expansion of airports and roads. The government could prevent this by distributing land to its people. Abandoned land and land without any owners could be distributed and transferred into farming and agricultural sectors through the food estate project.

Food resilience management becomes crucial as it will result in the stability of food resilience. Stability means that there is a consideration for sustainability or the ability to achieve high food resilience related to the period of food supply, risks, environmental conditions, political instability, and other economic factors [31]. The stability of food resilience is described in Figure 1.

The condition of food vulnerability may happen when the food dimension is not fulfilled. Food vulnerability may cause the manifestation of malnutrition. The condition of food resilience is not limited to the capability of local or national societies in producing sufficient staple food (rice) but it also concerns how they produce diverse food materials to fulfill daily needs [32]. Sustainable healthy food habits may be achieved when all the above prerequisites for food resilience are fulfilled without excessive natural resource exploitation and environmental pollution [33]. Apart from that, there must be optimum usage of the land sector so that land abandonment does not occur [31].

This work is supported and funded by Ministry of Research, Technology and High Education Republic of Indonesia through PDD Grant and supported by Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia.