Deconstructing Food Security: A WPR Analysis of Indonesia's Food Estate Policies – The Case of Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate

Abstract

The 2007–2008 global surge in food prices marked a critical shift in Indonesia's food policy, moving from reliance on food imports to a strategy prioritizing domestic production. Under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, policies were formulated to strengthen food security through large-scale agricultural projects known as food estates (lumbung pangan). The flagship program of this initiative, the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) in Merauke, Papua, was launched in 2010, allocating concessions to 44 corporations across 2.15 million hectares for timber, sugarcane, oil palm, and food crop plantations. However, despite being promoted as a solution to food security challenges, MIFEE led to environmental degradation and adverse impacts on local communities. The project itself has been deemed a failure marked by unsuccessful crop yields, resulting in its abandonment, with portions of the land acquired by corporations. Despite MIFEE's shortcomings, the food estate model has persisted across successive administrations. During President Joko Widodo's final term, a new food estate project called "Food Estate Merauke" was announced, targeting a different area in Merauke and underscoring Papua's continued appeal for such initiatives. This project is now set to continue under newly-elected President Prabowo Subianto. Against this backdrop, this thesis argues that MIFEE reveals critical contradictions within the food estate approach. While the government successfully framed the national drive for self-sufficiency as “kedaulatan pangan” (food sovereignty), this initiative often compromises local rights and needs. MIFEE thus serves as a lens to understand similar initiatives, exposing how national agendas can overshadow and marginalize local priorities. This thesis applies Carol Bacchi's 5 “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) framework to analyze how Indonesian governments have constructed food security narratives, focusing on MIFEE. By framing food security as a deficit in national self-sufficiency, these narratives promote large-scale agricultural development as the solution, equating food security with national pride and sovereignty. This research serves as a benchmark for examining how the new government justifies such initiatives, downplaying MIFEE’s adverse impacts to garner public and political support for expanding food estates in Papua. Advocating for food sovereignty policies that respect local knowledge and prioritize sustainable practices, this thesis challenges the prevailing discourse and envisions a food system grounded in local empowerment and ecological sustainability. It provides a foundational study for understanding how political and economic interests in food estate programs have consistently overlooked the needs of local communities, advancing national interests and the "greater good" at the expense of social justice.