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Project November 8, 2022

Hungry People at Merauke Food Estate

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On August 11, 2010, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiated the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) project.

From its conception, the project has received criticism from the local community, because it is considered to prioritize biophysical aspects and land suitability for large-scale investment and does not consider cultural aspects and customary land ownership (Zakaria et al., 2011; Santosa, 2014).

Apart from the social aspect, this project is also considered to be able to trigger environmental problems (Suryani, 2016; McDonnell, 2019).

In the end, the project failed, and some of the land later became the justification for the expansion of oil palm plantations. However, President Joko Widodo has revived the dream of building a food estate in Merauke.

Again, people are worried that this policy will exacerbate the food and health crisis they are already experiencing. This coverage will be written in a series in the newspapers Kompas and Kompas.id.

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