Chapter 6: State Colonialisation of Peasant Communities: State Food Estate Projects Between Welfare and Green Deconstruction

Indonesia, with its expansive agricultural base, places farmers at the forefront of food security. Strengthening agriculture-based initiatives is considered a strategic approach to mitigate the looming threat of a food crisis. The Food Estate (FE) programme has been introduced as both a preventive and a remedial strategy to address global food challenges. However, these ambitious FE projects, implemented across various regions in Indonesia, are met with significant criticism. While framed as efforts to develop national food reserves, they are also widely regarded as instances land grabbing. These initiatives often target green forest areas, which are cleared under the pretext of advancing a food revolution. The implementation of the FE programme, however, has marginalised farmers by reducing them as ‘puppets’, passive actors compelled to cultivate predetermined commodities without regard for their knowledge, capacity, or local expertise. The state, with its ‘horse glasses’, neglects the long-term welfare of farmers and imposes the cultivation of unsuitable crops. Additionally, the agricultural market is heavily regulated and controlled by the state, neglecting the vital interests and autonomy of farming communities. Rather than empowering farmers as key stakeholders in food security, the FE programme has systematically undermined their sovereignty, transforming them into subordinated subjects for the fulfilment of an ambitious national agenda.