IS IRRIGATION SUSTAINABLE? THE INDONESIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

By the early 1980s Indonesia achieved self sufficiency in rice production and has since maintained sufficient agricultural growth to meet the rising demand created by a 2% annual increase in population. The World Bank, however, predicts declining rice prices and increasing fertilizer prices well into the next century; and with no major breakthrough in rice research on the horizon, sustained self sufficiency will not be easy.Despite efforts to develop agriculture on the outer islands, Java still accounts for 60% of the rice produced. But with Java as the inevitable focus of Indonesia’s overall development the rapid industrialization and urbanization are adding to land pressures and generating competing needs for vital irrigation water resources.With the high cost of new irrigation development and diminishing economic returns it is logical that the irrigation subsector has more recently concentrated on improving the operation and maintenance of its existing infrastructure and the completion of schemes, on the outer islands, with substantial sunk investment. But will this strategy be enough to ensure sufficient growth in irrigated crop production?This paper examines the problems as they face Indonesia, focusing on the irrigation subsector. It discusses experiences gained in irrigation infrastructure development on the outer islands, the competing needs of crop diversification and rice self sufficiency, the achievements of the current focus on operation and maintenance and the subsector’s future strategy for both conserving Java’s role as Indonesia’s primary source of rice and further developing the irrigation potential in the outer islands.