PETALING JAYA: For the past month, there has been a steady stream of news of millions of people in Southeast Asia suffering from haze due to the peat fires in Indonesia.
There have been criticisms of the Indonesian government despite the authorities’ water-bombing and cloud seeding efforts to beat the peat fire.
The ongoing El Nino phenomenon is exacerbating the problem, creating conditions that fan the smouldering flames.
More than 5,000 Indonesian personnel, including the military and police, have been working tirelessly and round the clock to get residents access to medical help.
Aircraft continue to water-bomb hotspots and “cloud seed” the skies to induce rain.
Air quality index readings have been as high as 1,992 in Palang-karaya, Central Kalimantan — anything over 200 is unhealthy — while the numbers are fluctuating between unhealthy and very unhealthy in Singapore and Malaysia, depending on wind conditions.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a state of emergency in Riau province, one of the worst affected areas. He has also gone down to the ground with emergency workers to help fight the fire in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, before heading to Sumatra where he inspected conditions and fire-fighting efforts in Jambi.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association, or Gabungan Pengusaha Kelapa Sawit Indonesia (Gapki), too, had been responding positively, with its member companies mobilising fire-fighting units to help put out the fires.
But, like the years before, it said such positive efforts often went unnoticed as the truth was not sexy when pitted against damning allegations.
Inevitably, those who are more skilful at spreading rumours and attracting media attention continue to influence public perception, it added.
“Members of Gapki have been conscientiously implementing good agricultural practices. We are committed to a zero burning policy. This means no slash-and-burn to clear land for new plantings or re-plantings,” Gapki chairman Joko Supriyono told Antara News earlier this week.
He said slash and burn assumptions thrown at estate owners did not make sense.
“Why would companies that have invested trillions of rupiah want to risk having their permits revoked just because they want to save the cost of land clearing?” he questioned.
In an interview with Business Times, here,
recently, Incorporated Society of Planters chairman Daud Amatzin concurred that misunderstandings and wrongful blaming continue to recur because the communication of facts and figures on the differences between a well-managed peatland and one that is not is very much lacking.
When asked to comment on the spate of media reports on peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Daud said “there has to be more public awareness of this topic because decision makers need to be able to differentiate facts from mistaken assumptions about peat soil and peat fire”.
“Oil palm planters who carry out proper peatland development and water management at their estates should be given a pat on the back for preventing the spread of peat fire. Instead, what we see is a stab in the back of planters. Such false allegations are sinful,” he said.
“Do you know that professional planters practising modern agriculture invest a lot of money in heavy machinery to clear the land, compact the peat soil and dig up a maze of trenches?
“This is to compress the peat soil and keep it moist so that the oil palms can grow properly. Incidentally, this process makes the soil less flammable and retards fire from spreading underground,” he said.
Most of the oil palm estates in Riau are matured and bearing fruits.
“So, why would planters want to set fire and destroy their oil palms?” asked Daud, adding that the maze of water-filled trenches in peat area doubled up as both transportation routes and fire barriers in estates.
Asked on the satellite pictures showing many hotspots across Sumatra and Kalimantan as indicating fiery blaze within plantation concessions, Daud replied: “We must take note that in Indonesia, 20 per cent of the landbank is under the plasma scheme, of which smallholders occupy scattered enclaves within the estates”.
He said one must not discount the possibility that haze-causing fires could have been started by the local communities for shifting cultivation of cash crops in these enclaves.
Peatland is highly flammable in drought conditions, if not properly managed. Many cash-crop farmers, who cannot afford heavy machinery for land clearing, may have been unknowingly torching up peatland and setting off fires that smoulder underground for weeks and months.
Daud explained that fire spreads underground easily when peat soil is dry and spongy in the forest and shifting cultivation area. On the other hand, peat that has been compressed by heavy machinery and moisturised in water-filled trenches actually prevents spread of smouldering underground fire.
“When peat fire occurs, it does not recognise geographical boundaries. The fact that environmental activists and politicians are quick to blame planters without any evidence of where and how the fire originated shows these allegations are not factual,” Daud said.