CITY CASE STUDY JAKARTA
JAKARTA: URBAN AGRICULTURE AS AN ALTERNATIVE
STRATEGY TO FACE THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
Ning Purnomohadi
1.
Introduction
Metropolitan Jakarta houses almost 10 million people during the day and 8.5
million people during the night. Jakarta, on the northeast coast of the island of
Java, is the capital of the Republic of Indonesia and the centre for national trade,
industry and services, including agricultural development.
The climate in Jakarta is very humid and warm. The average annual temperature is
270C and humidity is between 80 and 90%. The annual rainfall is approximately
2000 mm, with highest rainfall in January and lowest in September. Daerah
Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta (Special Capital City Region of Jakarta) covers
about 650 km2 and the average population density has reached 12,495 people/km2.
The population grows at 2.4% per year. The land is relatively low and flat and lies
between 0 and 50 m above sea level. The soils are alluvial and fertile (Darmayanti
1994).
2.
Urban agriculture in Jakarta
Most of the agricultural products consumed in Jakarta are imported from Bogo,
Bekasi and Tangerang, the three satellite cities of Jakarta. However, what is
produced in Jakarta itself is difficult to bring into the city on account of congestion
and time constraints. Predictions are that, because of the economic crisis, urban
dwellers will eat more vegetables since they can no longer afford to buy meat, fish
or eggs (findings, own socio-economic field survey for this paper in 1999).
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Table 1: Food production, demand and production as percentage of demand in Jakarta
Crop
Production
Demand
Percentage
(%)
Rice
13,467
1,083,405
1.2%
Vegetables
26,883
282,184
.5%
Fruit
44,443
226,852
19.6%
Source: Urban agriculture municipal office of Jakarta 1999
Urban farming spread quickly as a result of the crisis. For example, in 1998
hundreds of people swarmed without permission onto land near Pulo Mas horseracing track to grow vegetables, and a cattle ranch owned by ex-president Suharto
on the hills overlooking Jakarta was invaded by some 300 farmers. The flying
police motorcycle patrols have failed to stop the land grabs and, in the end, the
Governor of Jakarta gave the city’s poor the permission to use idle land to grow
food, urging them to obtain permission first instead of just grabbing it (AFP 1998).
2.1
Urban farmers
Urban farmers can be categorised into two large groups: landowners and (the
majority) workers in urban agriculture. The latter group can work for a wage, rent
the land (paid directly, in cash or in-kind, or by production sharing), using free
accessible public land.
Table 2: Total population of Jakarta and number of farmers
Region
Total
Urban
farmers‘ Total no.
(district)
populatio status
farmers
n
1997
Owners Workers
1997
Central Jakarta
931,400
727
727
North Jakarta
1,659,100 1,955
16,475
18,430
West Jakarta
2,307,100 1,566
23,916
25,482
South Jakarta
2,087,200 2,124
2,632
4,756
East Jakarta
2,538,800 2,088
48,751
50,839
DKI Jakarta
9,523,600 7,733
92,501
100,234
Source: Statistical Bureau 1997
Most workers in urban agriculture are male farmers, mainly from West and Central
Java. Only a few are originally from Jakarta (Betawi people). Very few of the
workers own land in their home village.
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Often these workers lost their previous seasonal job in the fallout of the economic
crisis and are left with few resources. They try to find a job as a farm worker in the
city during planting or harvesting. A few try to obtain a permanent job in the city,
or join their relatives who already have permanent jobs in Jakarta. The village
migrants usually come alone; they do not bring their families. Regularly, at
intervals varying from two weeks to once a year, they return to their home village.
Urban agriculture provides workers, landowners and other people involved, with a
small but significant income. Though it is limited, the workers use their income
from urban agriculture (about Rp 10,000 to 15,0001 per day) to support families at
home by sending money for daily expenses as well as expenses like school fees or
traditional ceremonies2.
Few women work in agriculture. Generally, men are engaged in urban agriculture
throughout the season, in land preparation, watering, planting, weeding and
harvesting, while women usually work only twice during the season in urban
agriculture: during periods of planting and harvesting. As the work that women do
is considered lighter, they are paid less. Women do tasks like selecting vegetables
and making bunches of vegetables.
Contracted workers are usually paid according to the type of work they do. A
typical example is:
Land clearing
Rp
Rp
Transplanting seedlings Rp
Applying fertiliser
Rp
Maintenance weeding Rp
Harvesting
Rp
15,000 for women worker per day
20,000 for men workers per day
250,000/ha
60,000/ha
15,000/day
80,000/600 kg
Migrants live together in very small crowded houses in areas which expanded into
slums all around the city. Some of the workers live on the farms, in very small
huts. The municipality has not been able to provide housing for the migrants.
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3.
Use of urban areas
More than 11,000 ha of land are used for urban agriculture in Jakarta. The land can
be classified into various types:
• vacant land: property of bankrupt or “collapsed” developers (e.g. Kelapa
Gading Industrial Estate) and part of the municipal greenbelt areas (e.g.
Pulomas and ex Kemayoran Airport area);
• riversides and roadsides: belonging to Public Works, which co-ordinates flood
canals (e.g. Banjir Kanal near Hotel Indonesia, along Jalan Inspeksi Dukuh
Atas and the roadsides at Mutiara Film Settlement);
• homegardens;
• others: many smaller areas used by the small-scale producers, such as the
BPKP Office garden in Jalan Pramuka, next to Salemba’s jail, etc.
Land tenure in Jakarta is not very secure, although generally urban agriculture is
not repressed there. However, 90% of the land used for urban agriculture is owned
by real-estate developers or by the central or local government. This means that the
land, once the economy picks up again, might easily become a construction site
again. At the moment, however, urban agriculture obviously plays a positive role
in making urban wasteland productive and turning waste dumps into green areas.
Table 3:
Agricultural land use in DKI Jakarta
Region Paddy field (ha)
Dryland (ha)
Total
High- Modera Low- Dry
Home Vegetable
input tesawa
garden plantainputs
input
tions
Central 46
23
North 1150
125 5
1280 1193
185
West
80
140
20
100 340 1302
166
South 14
14
1635
486
East
660 230 225 1115 1331
1162
DKI
Jakarta 740 1290
375 344 2.749 5507
2022
Source: Statistical Bureau 1998
Total
wetland
&
dryland
92
3209
2083
2215
3628
Other
Total
23
551
275
80
20
92
1929
1743
2201
2513
949
8477 11,226
People engage in urban farming to survive. Often the farmers are in debt to the
middlemen who sell their produce; this gives the workers very little scope to
bargain for better prices. The production systems are usually very intensive and
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often chemical fertiliser and pesticides are applied. Farmers take water from
polluted rivers and at times apply fertilisers improperly and use banned pesticides.
Farmers grow a variety of crops, dependent on the soil conditions. Most crops have
a short growth cycle (about 30 days). Favourite leafy vegetables are morning glory
(Ipomoea aquatica - locally known as kangkung), spinach, lettuce, green mustard,
basil and cassava. In the past three years, yields significantly improved, especially
in the case of spinach and morning glory.
Ornamental plants are also grown, particularly in the Mutiara Film Complex, as
well as in many other strategic locations, such as along roadsides.
Table 4:
Central
Jakarta
North
Jakarta
West
Jakarta
South
Jakarta
Utilisation of vacant lands in August 1999 in Jakarta
Produce
Land in Cultivated crops
Area
use (ha)
(tons)
(ha)
60
29
Chilly pepper, spinach, morning glory, 4
lettuce, caisim, tomatoes, maize, cassava,
sweet potatoes
1168
671
Vegetables, chilly pepper, morning glory, 11
chinese cabbage, paddy, spinach,
tomatoes, melon, lettuce
748
445
Spinach, morning glory, groundnuts, 3203
maize,
lettuce,
stringbean,
Luffa
acutangula, chinese cabbage, caisim,
eggplant
417
110
Maize, cassava, eggplant, lettuce, chinese 395
cabbage, morning glory, groundnuts,
jasmine, Ixora rosea, chillies, stringbean,
cucumber
326
277
Vegetables, groundnuts, cassava, spinach 2148
East
Jakarta
Source: field survey Ning Purnomohadi
Labour
(person)
340
2600
3781
343
1420
Crops are marketed mainly by middlemen, who come directly to the farm to buy
the produce. Often farmers can sell only to one or two middlemen, because they
are tied to them due to debts incurred, resulting in very low prices for the farmers.
Some produce is sold directly to nearby markets, or sold directly by the producers
by street vending in the neighbourhoods. Some restaurants also buy directly from
farmers. Usually, this is cheaper for restaurants and the produce is fresher than if
they would buy from stalls or supermarkets. A good example of this is in the
Kelapa Gading area, where many Chinese restaurants are located.
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4.
Selected examples of ongoing urban agriculture
4.1
Pulo Mas residential area
Pulo Mas in East Jakarta consists of middle- to high-class residential areas.
Located behind a well-known business area are squatter settlements in Pulo Asem
and in the Velodrome area. Here, a greenbelt of 25 ha is located. The area is
property of the Municipality of Jakarta. Recently, the area was reduced in size, but
it still functions as a water-retention area for the eastern part of Jakarta. The same
piece of land is also used for other activities, such as football, a horse-racing
stadium, some urban forest and agriculture. On the western side of the stadium,
luxurious apartments are built.
Of these 25 ha, an area of 2 ha is used for agriculture. The land is controlled by
two “big bosses” who hire about 30 farm workers. In return, they keep the stadium
clean. Each worker receives about Rp 10,000/day, not including harvesting fees.
The boss takes care of the marketing, the produce being mostly sold directly to
consumers. Most workers come from West Java. Some come from Central Java,
which is further away, but still close enough for daily commuting.
The land is used for intensive vegetable production. Vegetables like spinach,
lettuce, green leafy sawi (Brassica rugosa) or Chinese cabbage, morning glory and
cabbage are sown and all crops are harvested in 25-30 days. Production takes place
on small raised beds or garit of 10 m x 60 cm in size. The beds are designed so that
they are easy to maintain and can be watered with a water container in one
movement, back and forth. “Small” containers called gembor are placed in each
hand, each being able to water two garits at a time. The plots near the Sunter River
are irrigated three times per day with water taken directly from the river. The plots
further away are watered from a retention basin or pumped from wells. The
retention basins are placed in the middle of the land in between the garits.
Ten days before seedlings are planted, organic fertilisers and water is applied and
mixed with the soil. During the growing period, chemical fertilisers (urea and TSP)
are applied. Pesticides are used to protect the plants.
4.2
PT Gading Kirana Company site
PT Gading Kirana is a real-estate developer but, because of the Asian financial
meltdown, the land lies wasted. The company then decided to lease the 2000 m2 to
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farmers for Rp 20,000/month/plot. The money is collected by the company’s
security staff. The farmers have a contract allowing them to carry out agricultural
activities and obliging them to maintain the fence.
4.3
Indonesian Navy industrial area Kodamar
A 25 ha compound in Kodamar, owned by the Indonesian Navy, is used as a paddy
field. The Navy Co-operative Office (Inkopal and Primkopal) hires farmers to
work the land and the farmers receive monthly wages. The farmers, who originally
come from Inderamayu, Karawang, Cirebon and Central Java, were already paddy
farmers, and now work here on a seasonal basis. There are, however, plans to
develop this “vacant” land in the near future, to construct houses for navy
personnel. About 100 farmers are hired for planting, fewer people during the
growing season, and 20 workers to harvest the crop. A high-yielding variety of
paddy (IR 64) is grown twice a year, and the total annual harvest is between 150
and 300 tons.
4.4
Urban agriculture along roadsides
About two ha of vacant land on green "islands" between three streets have been
planted with vegetables, along Jalan Pramuka, Jalan Pemuda, and Jalan Ahmad
Yani. Three years ago, a local youth association, Forum Komunikasi Putra Putri
ABRI – Indonesia (FKPPI) decided to start practising agriculture. About 25 farm
workers now work under “one boss”. They live in small, very simple, cottages
around the land and receive Rp 10,000/day plus a bonus during harvesting,
dependent on their harvesting skills. The produce is sold directly to consumers. In
the past, these areas were just used as a waste dump, but now the area has taken on
an attractive green appearance, not to be missed when driving on the freeway that
crosses above the area.
4.5
Urban agriculture along canals and riversides
Urban agriculture is also found on the riverbanks in front of the Shangri-La Hotel,
the BNI buildings and also behind Hotel Indonesia. In between the fields are many
stalls selling foods and other daily necessities. Usually, the farmers cultivate only
two or three kinds of plants, like leek, morning glory and green sawi. There is great
potential to further develop urban agriculture on riverbanks such as along the flood
canal “kali” Malang (a branch of the river Ciliwung), which is presently home to
illegal semi-permanent houses and, in some places, street prostitution.
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4.6
Kelurahan Sukapura
Kelurahan Sukapura lies close ton the coast. In this area, there are two large
farming enterprises which grow only one crop: morning glory. The reason for this
is that the land is swampy, permitting few options besides morning glory. The sites
are in the middle of an industrial area next to many industries, but also near large
and very densely populated squatter settlements.
One site of 10 ha is rented by a Madurese, who hires 30 skilled workers from
Indramayu. The farm is organised as an efficient production system. Water is
drawn from the Cakung drain. To protect the crop, pesticides and herbicides are
applied. The morning glory production is marketed throughout DKI Jakarta.
Usually, middlemen are very willing to come directly to the farm.
The other site of 15 ha is located behind container warehouses, along the Cakung
drain. The land is owned by a developer, who rents his land out for Rp
20,000/ha/month to individual farmers, mostly people from Jakarta. For marketing,
these farmers very much depend on middlemen, because only they are willing to
come directly to the farm. Prices are thus determined by the middlemen. The
farmers receive Rp 600 per bunch of morning glory while, in other places, the
prices can be five times higher (up to Rp 3,000/bunch). The water used is drawn
from the Sunter River.
5.
Policy perspective on urban agriculture
The widespread nature of urban agriculture in the last two years, which has
developed in response to the economic crisis, is seen as a temporary phenomenon.
Urban agriculture has still not been included in the urban Master Plan of the city.
Neither is urban agriculture included in the existing policy on Urban Green Open
Spaces (UGOS).
On account of the latest economic crisis, more and more vacant land (or Lahan
Tidur) is being used for farming. The municipality, realising the need for cheap
and healthy food for the urban poor, issued the Governors’ Decree No. 184,
entitled “Private Owned Vacant Land Used for Urban Agriculture Practices in DKI
Jakarta Area” on March 9th, 1998. This stipulates that the landowners and the
urban farmers should sign a formal contract to avoid illegal practices. The local
government provided a list of landowners who, for the time being, are not able to
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develop their land according to their plans. In these cases, the landowners willingly
lend out their vacant land to farming purposes.
There are a number of laws potentially affecting urban agriculture, but none of the
laws specifically refer to it. One example is Law No. 7/1996, which states that
sufficient food, both in quality and quantity, should be available for all households
at all times. The law envisions a role for municipal government and the urban
community in providing food. The municipal government should enhance food
security through a “sound” food management system, through training, control and
so on.
Another example is the "greening programme", which started in the early 1990s.
Jakarta planned to have at least 25-30% of the UGOS improved, in order to obtain
a “balanced environment”. However, the development of UGOS was given last
priority, and has practically resulted in neglect. For the time being, the greening of
Jakarta has not even improved by 10%. The One Million Trees Campaign
launched in 1993 has slowed down. Because of the economic crisis, the budget for
city park maintenance and rehabilitation has been drastically cut. When the central
government initiated the ADIPURA3 award programme, the development of urban
agriculture was not encouraged as part of the urban green open space system. It
was argued that urban agricultural produce is contaminated because of air
pollution.
It seems, therefore, that Jakarta Municipality sees a role for urban agriculture in the
short term in order to overcome the impacts of the Asian economic crisis, but does
not regard it as a tool to contribute structurally to urban development.
6.
Opportunities for urban agriculture
The Asian crisis created opportunities for urban agriculture, as the people in cities
are in need of new solutions for overcoming their problems. From the activities of
the people of Jakarta, it appears that urban agriculture offers some solutions.
The increasing (economic) importance of urban agriculture should facilitate its
inclusion in city planning and the specification of agricultural areas in urban
zoning. Urban agriculture should be treated as an integral part of the urban
ecosystem. With sufficient appropriate space, it will be easier for urban dwellers to
generate alternative income through farming or home gardening.
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The role of the local government in expanding urban agriculture could be great,
through focusing on production, marketing and consumer aspects, as described
below:
• production aspects: the provision of basic technical information and scientific
data for urban agricultural development for all stakeholders could range from a
set of reliable updated city maps to practical guidelines, standard operating
procedures for urban agriculture, training, demonstration plots, etc. This is
especially important to avoid pollution through urban farming. Vacant lots
could be used much more, in addition to intensive techniques for small spaces,
such as container-based farming and hydroponics (Wade 1986);
• marketing aspects: the government needs to reorganise distribution systems,
and provide facilities for markets and marketing information. The local
government could also facilitate co-operative marketing systems to avoid
exploitation of farmers by middlemen;
• consumer aspects: the government has a responsibility to avoid contamination
of food. A land suitability classification system could be made tin order o avoid
contamination of crops by soil, water and air pollution. Another consideration is
the promotion of food diversity.
Possible constraints for the implementation of urban agricultural programs are:
• better economic options from farmers in other jobs;
• continued land title insecurity, which could keep farmers from investing or
continuing because of insecure prospects; and
• limited knowledge, including knowledge on marketing systems.
1
2
3
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Rupiah (Rp) 7500 = 1 US$
This income can be compared to other salaries: non-skilled construction workers earn
around Rp 8,000 – 10,000/day, skilled workers between Rp 20,000 – 30,000/day, maids and
servants earn cash between Rp 150,000 – 200,000 / month, but usually also have board &
lodging and small medical expenses included. Lower class government salaries run between
Rp 750,000 – 500,000 / month.
The ADIPURA award programme is co-ordinated by the State Ministry of Environment to
award the greenest and cleanest city of Indonesia.
CITY CASE STUDY JAKARTA
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 1998. Information from 6 August 1998 found
on www.city farmer.org/jakarta.html#jakarta.
Darmayanti, Erwina. 1994. Integrating informal city farming practices into
green open space management: a study of the case of Jakarta, Indonesia.
Masters thesis, York University, Canada.
Kartawinata, Kuswata. 1992. Kota sebagai ekosistem. Presentation at
Makalah utama pada Seminar Sehari Ekologi Perkotaan, dalam rangka,
Dies Natalis Universitas Tarumanegara ke XXX, Jakarta, July 1992.
Purnomohadi, Ning. 1996. Strategy for urban agriculture in Indonesian
cities: a challenge? Paper prepared for Program Design Workshop on
Urban Agriculture, Economic Development Institute, World Bank,
Washington DC, June 1996.
UA Municipal Office. 1999. Propinsi dalam angka, sub sektor pertanian,
Tahun 1993-1997. Pemerintah Daerah Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta.
Jakarta: UA Municipal Office.
Wade, Isabel. 1986. City food, crop selection in Third World cities. San
Francisco: Urban Resources System, Inc.
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