The Forced Cultivation System

Diponegoro War drained the Dutch coffers. To overcome this financial crisis, Governor-General Van Den Bosch forced the people in Java to plant their land with crops highly valued in European markets such as indigo, coffee, tea, pepper, sugar and cinnamon. Contract labourers were forced to work on plantations. For Indonesians, this policy resulted in famine as people did not have the time to work their own farms.