In Indonesia, agriculture makes a significant contribution to the economy. The sector generates about twenty percent of gross domestic product (GDP), is a major employer, and produces foreign exchange from non-oil exports. However, with increased population pressure, especially in the densely populated island of Java, the area of land for agriculture has decreased and cultivation has been forced to expand to marginal land outside Java. To facilitate expansion, the Indonesian government carried out a long-term transmigration programme, which was intended to distribute people from the crowded inner islands of Java and Bali. In Southern Borneo, some of transmigrants are settled on tidal swampland. Because the characteristics of swampland are different from... |