ATR/BPN Pushes for Compensation for Rice Field Conversion

Dwi Budi Martono, Acting Director-General of Land and Spatial Planning Control and Enforcement at the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (“ATR/BPN”), has proposed the concept of an “agriculture certificate offset” to ensure the sustainability of agricultural land in Indonesia.

Under this concept, parties that convert rice fields for development or investment must compensate for the land-use change by creating productive rice fields in other locations. Dwi likened this scheme to carbon offsets in environmental issues.

“Similar to carbon offsets, if we emit CO2 in one place, we must plant trees—which produce O2—in another place,” said Dwi.

Dwi explained that the agricultural certificate offset concept was designed in collaboration with the Land Bank Agency. Under this scheme, abandoned land managed by the Land Bank can be utilized as sites for creating new rice fields. Meanwhile, compensation funds from the offset scheme can be used to finance the creation of rice fields as well as the construction of agricultural support facilities and infrastructure.