SPL Sri Pendowo Lampung Strengthens the Agrarian Reform Movement Through Political Education and Paramedia 

Since the 1960s, approximately 2.000 farmers in eight villages in the Melinting District of East Lampung have cultivated 401 hectares of land for generations, cultivating corn and cassava. Initially, the land was known to the farmers as part of the Register 38 Gunung Balak forest area, making no effort to obtain administrative recognition of their land ownership rights from the government. However, over time, farmers have faced the problem of land mafias seeking to seize their land, claiming they possess land ownership certificates. This problem has also made farmers aware that the land they have been cultivating is not actually within the forest area, but outside it.

This situation has led to ongoing land conflicts, prompting farmers to continue fighting and resisting land grabbing efforts carried out by land mafia. Farmers have made various efforts to defend their cultivated areas, such as hearings with the local government and the central government, and reporting the issue to the Lampung Regional Police. In 2024, farmers then formed the Lampung Farmers Union (SPL) Sri Pendowo, which aims to become a forum for Lampung farmers to fight for their management rights. The formation of this forum was also based on farmers' awareness that land conflict issues cannot be resolved sufficiently through the judicial process but rather requires a stronger movement at the community level politically to jointly promote fair, beneficial, and sustainable policies for farmers.

Therefore, to further strengthen the collective struggle of SPL Sri Pendowo, while encouraging the emergence of ideas and strategies for resolving land conflicts and expanding the agrarian reform movement to ensure fair and more favorable policy changes for farmers, SPL Sri Pendowo, with the assistance of YLBHI LBH Bandar Lampung, conducted political education for women farmers' groups and paramedia training for farmers' union members. As a result, 20 women farmers have increased awareness of the relationship between politics, law, and economics in understanding the agrarian issues they are facing, which is useful for strengthening the strategy and foundation of the farmers' movement in fighting for the rights to recognition and protection of their managed areas.

Another impact is the birth of 20 local champions at SPL Sri Pendowo, who have increased knowledge on how to produce content that is appropriate to the various problems faced by farmers and strategies for its effective dissemination using digital media. It is hoped that they can become a source of information for the public and a benchmark for the government in creating fair and pro-farmer policies. This program has had an impact on increasing the strategy and solidarity of the agrarian reform movement for 2000 SPL Sri Pendowo farmers.