JAKARTA: Indonesia is being advised to take agrarian reform in Malaysia as a model for the ongoing land reform in the country, in which the government is distributing plots of land to small-time farmers.

The establishment of farmer groups was the prerequisite to the success of the agrarian reforms undertaken by the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) in Malaysia, said a researcher with the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, on Thursday.

Groups with 10 to 15 members enable the government to empower farmers by providing them with guidance or technical assistance, he added.

“Farmers must be empowered so that the program will not end with the land distribution. It is useless if plots of land have been distributed to farmers, but they are not empowered and given guidance,” Bhima said as reported by Antara news.

With farmers working in groups, it will be easier for the government to carry out supervision and ensure that land remains productive and the ownership remains unchanged, he stressed.

Indonesia has started an ambitious land reform program this year by, among other things, distributing land to farmers across the country.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has required the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry to issue 5 million land certificates this year and 7.5 million in 2018 to try to accelerate the government’s effort to reduce a disparity between the rich and the poor. – The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network