The Tsunami of Pesticide Use for Rice Production on Java and Its Consequences

Abstract

The consequences of the ‘Green Revolution’ persist in Indonesia and are most evident in the continuing high use of pesticides. After 1986, Indonesia made dramatic reductions in its use of pesticides for rice by adopting methods of integrated pest management, but these reductions were significantly reversed after 2002, producing a ‘tsunami’ in a costly and deleterious promotion of a wide range of pesticides. By destroying natural predators, this deleterious increase enabled the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stal.), a major pest on rice, to become endemic, causing substantial crop losses. This paper provides an ethnographic examination of this excessive pesticide use focusing on usage in two villages in major rice producing areas, one in West Java and the other in Central Java. Faced with uncertainty and the risk of crop loss, farmers are prompted to ever greater spraying and even resort to ‘cocktails’ of multiple pesticides. Yet both villages have suffered brown planthopper infestation and the viruses associated with infestation. The consequences of this pesticide tsunami are considered at both local and national levels.

Keywords:

• Java/Indonesia
• Green Revolution
• Rice
• Pesticides
• Brown Planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stal.)

Notes

1 Indonesian: PHT/Pengalolaan Hama Terpadu

2 All non-English terms are a mix of Javanese or Indonesian as understood by local bi-lingual speakers in the two villages.

3 While this paper is specifically and locally focused, its relevance and implications are Asia-wide because the problem of pesticide overuse analysed in the paper are extensive. See D.G. Bottrell and K.G. Schoenly (2011) for a discussion of the scope of this problem in tropical Asia; and K.L Heong and B. Hardy (2009) for a systematic examination of planthopper threats to rice production in Asia. R. Ariefiansyah (2018) has provided an updated account of the recurrence of brown planthopper resurgence on Java.

4 Both villages in this study and their surrounding areas have been the focus of investigation over many years under the auspices of a cooperative research agreement between the University of Indonesia and the Australian National University. Studies relevant to this paper that were carried out by student researchers in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Indonesia include the following theses: Baskoro (2013), Kinasih (2012), and Sudhiastiningsih (2012). Another product of this cooperation was the two-volume set of documentary videos by Rhino Ariefiansyah: Wereng di Sawah Petani and Sawah Tangguh di Tangan Petani (2012)

5 It is worth noting that Abamectin and Cypermethrin, both popularly used pesticides in Indramayu, have been banned for rice in Thailand.

6 In addition to the lack of credible government extension efforts to inform farmers on issues of pest resurgence and the tacit government concurrence in a relentless marketing of pesticides, the persistence in farmers’ use of pesticides must also be considered within a wider context because it is a general problem that goes well beyond the rice fields of Java. See Wilson and Tisdell (2001) for a further discussion of some of these issues.