When Farmer Face the Biodiesel Project (A lesson from Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta)

Abstract

This paper departs from the discourse of the development of jatropha as a biofuel source. The discourse was hyped to become one of the national strategies to solve energy crisis, environmental degradation, and poverty. Jatropha had been planted in vast provinces and districts, one of which was in Gunungkidul. The farmers were mobilized by the government and companies to plant jatropha by inserting the plant on their land despite the limited land there. This paper will describe the key question, how did the farmers face the jatropha project? The discussion is focused on the social relation constructed by farmers when facing the project. The data were collected by ethnographic method. Keywords— biodiesel, farmer, Gunungkidul, jatropha.