Indonesia

Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2009-2010

Indicator: Lessons learned from ‘pilot rollouts’ of research activities integrated into Balai Pengkajiaan Teknologi Pertanian (Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology) and SADI programs, and design and implementation of the ACIAR-managed component of a second phase of SADI completed

Performance: Lessons from pilot rollouts (PROs) were evaluated with key partners and documented in a workshop in Bali in April 2010. The issuing of a memorandum by the Indonesian Centre for Agricultural Technology Assessment and Development (ICATAD) to adopt PROs as a mainstream approach for technology assessment and to scale-out the model to all 33 provinces demonstrates the extent of support. ICATAD has agreed to provide operational funds in 2010 and 2011 to complete the testing and development of the PRO approach. ACIAR–SADI is supporting this by extending the mentoring support from University of Queensland for 2 years after the completion of SADI.
The follow-on program for SADI is in design under the management of AusAID. It is still unclear whether there will be a role for ACIAR in this new program.

Indicator: Indonesian partners scaled-out institutional development strategies for improved relevance and delivery of agricultural research

Performance: ICATAD is implementing a nationwide scale-out of Collaborative Competitive Research Grants (CCRG) that were piloted in four provinces with ACIAR support. In 2011 all research grants to the Assessment Institutes of Agricultural Technology in all 33 provinces will follow the principles successfully piloted in CCRG. This will be supported by the additional nationwide scale-out of outcomes-based monitoring and evaluation (also piloted with ACIAR support). ACIAR is assisting both scale-out agendas through continued mentoring and the development of an online monitoring database facility. ICATAD also intends to scale-out PRO nationwide once the pilot activity is completed.

Indicator: Factors affecting competitiveness of key domestic and international high-value products, including mango, mangosteen, chilli, shallots and shrimp analysed

Performance: A project is continuing to analyse value-chain development, associated demand patterns and farmer participation.

Indicator: Improvements in production, pest and disease management, quality and marketability for banana, citrus, mango and mangosteen trialled by industry and farmers

Performance: Industry and farmer trialling of new approaches to production, marketing and pest management of banana, citrus, mango and mangosteen is happening through four projects in Indonesia and Australia.

Indicator: Effective biosecurity procedures to protect individual enterprises from avian influenza tested in collaboration with the small-scale commercial poultry sector

Performance: Researchers have worked with stakeholders in this sector to identify appropriate biosecurity measures that they are now in the process of evaluating.

Indicator: Teak timber processing strategies disseminated to companies in central Java to reduce wood losses in furniture production

Performance: Detailed reports have been prepared for each of the 15 industry ‘champions’ involved in the project. For each of these companies, detailed recommendations have been compiled to improve their standards, in addition to more generic recommendations for the industry. These reports were distributed to all participants in August 2010.

Indicator: Smallholder culture of spiny lobster placed on sounder technical and economic footing through transfer and adaptation of capture and grow-out technologies

Performance: Progress has been achieved through a project that is adapting lobster farming technologies developed in Vietnam and applying them to Indonesia at the village level.

Indicator: New planning tools for land- and sea-based aquaculture routinely applied by relevant national and regional agencies in formulation of aquaculture planning and policy advice to management decision-making bodies

Performance: The Coastal Aquaculture Classification Scheme (CACS) has been completed and will be formally adopted by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries for strategic development of land- and sea-based aquaculture. New planning tools (aquaculture site suitability maps, spatial data, soil maps, mapping models) developed under CACS have been applied by the following agencies in extension support and restoration projects across Indonesia:

• provincial fisheries departments in South Sulawesi and Lampung
• BAPPEDA (the Provincial Body for Planning and Development) in Lampung and South Sulawesi
• the province of South Sulawesi and Department of Zoning, Spatial Planning and Settlement
• Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in work on the west coast of South Sulawesi
• Government of Indonesia Shrimp Renaissance Program.

Indicator: Extension by farmer groups of shrimp production packages enhanced to address production consistency and product quality

Performance: By the end of a project to assist smallholder shrimp farmers, more than 200 have adopted better management practice programs within a framework of committed, local catchment-based farmer groups with the support of active, well-trained and resourced extension services. These farmers consistently produce high-quality shrimp that attract premium prices.

Indicator: Constraints and opportunities to profitable and resilient farming systems in Aceh assessed, and appropriate technologies identified for on-farm testing

Performance: Results emerging from past projects have been used to develop a range of promising technologies that will increase cost-effective production in rice-based cropping systems. These technologies are being tested at seven permanent experimental and demonstration sites in Aceh through a new project.

Achievements from the 2009-10 Annual Report

Domestic demand for table and processing potatoes and South-East Asian regional demand primarily for processing potatoes is seeing the crop becoming increasingly important throughout Indonesia. Accordingly, the Indonesian Government and donors are funding research, development and extension work to support the development of potatoes and rotational crops. An ACIAR funded project is seeking to improve the efficiency of potato, brassica and allium (shallot) production and postharvest systems in the provinces of West Java, Central Java, South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara (WNT). Constraints to production in potatoes and cabbage were determined through baseline surveys conducted throughout the project areas. Best-bet management recommendations have been validated through ‘learning by doing’ plots run through the FFS approach.

Potato cyst nematode (PCN) has been a problem for potato growers. Recent PCN survival experiments funded by the project and conducted at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta have shown that the cysts are rapidly killed in certain inundated highland paddy soils, opening the possibility for developing the highland paddy field areas of WNT as a safe potato seed provider to Indonesia.

A project in West Java and Central Java has completed the field piloting of two key approaches in linking vegetable farmers with markets. The first was a participatory market-chain approach (PMCA) and the second involved a farmer business school (FBS). The pilot PMCA involved two potato market chains (i.e. fresh and processed) in West Java. A total of 80 participants, representing eight categories of market-chain actors, participated in the year-long process. Of these, 42 were small-scale farmers and snackfood processors/entrepreneurs. A post-PMCA monitoring study undertaken 5 months later indicated that at least 30 of these participants had initiated/expanded potato businesses by using the marketing innovations introduced through the PMCA.

The concept of the FBS approach was a transition from the conventional FFS into a market-oriented learning process. Its curriculum was developed at a workshop in October 2009, and the first FBS took place between October 2009 and April 2010. It involved 14 farmers in Central Java who had earlier participated in a potato–brassica crop management FFS. By the time the farmers had completed the FBS, they had successfully negotiated with a local supermarket in Solo, Central Java, and started to supply it with fresh potatoes. The movement of animals and animal products spreads trans-boundary animal diseases (TADs).

The management of risk for TAD spread via these movements is therefore essential for goals of disease reduction and eradication to be achieved. A project seeks to identify high-risk movements and associated factors for certain TADs—highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), classical swine fever (CSF) and foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD)—that are strategically important for Indonesia and Australia. Work during the year investigated informal poultry movement to gather information on types and numbers of poultry illegally entering Bali, the entry points, and the economic and cultural drivers for this trade. Sequencing of five avian influenza viruses isolated from birds swabbed at live bird markets in Bali should pinpoint the source of the viruses. Village-to-village movement of poultry within each island was documented for both Bali and Lombok, revealing that movements for kampong chickens and ducks were predominately within subdistricts. coffee-pruning techniques.

An investigation of the pig market chain in East Nusa Tenggara (ENT), which defined an emerging commercial chain in West Timor and a non-commercial chain throughout ENT, identified peak demand periods and the principal routes for inter-island movement of pigs. Pig movement and pig marketing practices were named as key risks for CSF spread throughout ENT.

An outbreak of rabies in Bali has brought into sharp focus the ease at which diseases can emerge when surveillance and testing falter. It was a reminder that similar outbreaks can occur with other diseases that affect both humans and animals. The rabies outbreak has stimulated research and discussion, and attracted international attention and subsequent funding.

The capture fisheries within Indonesian waters are highly diverse and complex, ranging from small artisanal activities undertaken by family groups to highly industrialised and mobile fishing fleets targeting high-value products. The collapse of fisheries could have severe social, economic and environmental impacts in Indonesia. An ACIAR project is investigating and trialling a variety of fisheries assessment and management methods potentially suitable for the Indonesian context.

The project team has carried out an assessment of seven fishing ports involving rapid market assessments, detailed interviews and collection of fisheries’ locally held statistics. As a result of this new information, two of these fisheries have been chosen for more-detailed assessment of catches and management opportunities. They are the lemuru (sardine) fishery carried out in the Bali Straits (a large fishery for which there exists a good deal of useful data and a draft management plan) and the painted lobster fisheries of Sadeng and Pacitan (a small fishery where very little information is available).

The waters of the Indian Ocean are key spawning grounds for many tuna species, and are the only spawning area for the southern bluefin tuna. A key to ensuring the sustainability of these species is effective catch monitoring. ACIAR earlier introduced Indonesian fisheries authorities to improved methods of catch monitoring, and now further research is improving Indonesia’s capacity to independently monitor and assess both its tuna and billfish (such as swordfish and marlin) fisheries. A trial program since 2005 has trained fisheries observers to collect data and information on fishery vessels, fishing gear characteristics, all aspects of fishing operations, catch composition (including bycatch species) and environmental conditions. This has led to the establishment of a substantial database that has been the source for a PhD dissertation. The trial program’s success has led the government and fisheries authorities to plan a formal fisheries observer program for Indonesia.

Fish farming using cages is a lucrative industry throughout the tropics and a source of income for poor coastal communities. However, the environmental effects of this activity are not clear. A recently completed project has established that the environmental footprint of all the seacage farms under study was highly localised. Under the microtidal conditions studied at the Indonesian location, the research team found that wastes do not disperse far from the cage area, in strong contrast to the macro-tidal situation on Bathurst Island in northern Australia. The project findings led to the development of a decision support tool to calculate the carrying capacity of an area for seacage culture.

Inland cultured fish is also a growing industry in Indonesia; it takes two forms—pond culturing and cage culturing. Stocks for cage culturing rely on wild capture and, as the practice has expanded, pressure has increased on wild stocks. A project has sought to develop sustainable comanagement strategies to establish long-term harmony between fish culture and the capture fishery, ensuring environmental integrity. So far a draft management plan has been drawn up for the two reservoirs under study, and authorities are starting to release fingerlings to build up stocks in the reservoirs.

Work is progressing in the project to develop integrated disease management (IDM) for chilli pepper in Indonesia. Continuing surveys of disease incidence in Java and nearby islands have confirmed that severe begomovirus infection persists in the Magelang and Yogyakarta regions, and equally devastating anthracnose incidence is encountered in all areas during the rainy season. The research team introduced farmers in multilocation trials and farmer meetings to the use of crop barriers to reduce begomovirus infection. Use of living barriers—yard-long beans, maize and the green manure legume Crotalaria juncea—has been recommended. Farmers are receptive to the crotalaria barrier as it occupies less space than equivalently dense maize planting and reportedly delays virus symptom onset by several weeks, resulting in higher continuing yield. Other IDM trials have introduced drip irrigation to farmers in seasonally dry areas near Rembang; when used in conjunction with nylon net barriers, the drip irrigation reduced begomovirus damage.

A project to develop integrated pest management (IPM) for stem borers and insect vectors of viral diseases of sugarcane focuses on the following elements: identifying the most important pests and diseases of sugarcane in Java; development of improved IPM practices for these pests and diseases; better extension of these practices to the sugarcane farming community; and development of additional resources to assist extension activities. Of special interest has been the discovery that vectors of sugarcane mosaic in Java are the aphids Toxoptera citricida and Melanaphis sacchari. Molecular assay of commercial crop leaf samples has shown that sugarcane streak mosaic virus affects over 80% of leaves, while sugarcane mosaic virus affects 3–5%, of leaves. This is the first time the incidence of the different mosaic pathogens in Java has been quantified.

The international competitiveness of the mango and mangosteen industries of Indonesia needs to improve. A project is developing ways to help these industries meet the requirements for technical market access and therefore deliver high-quality fruit into the market. The project team has completed a baseline survey with the mango industry, and a needs analysis and supplychain mapping through a series of workshops with the mango and mangosteen growers. This has given the project a good understanding of the needs and current capacity of the industry to meet export requirements. The area of transportation damage in mangosteen has also been assessed and new plastic crates introduced into the harvest system, which has reduced the amount of transportation damage to the fruit from the field to the packhouse.

A project to develop an integrated approach to crop production of bananas to effectively manage wilt diseases in Indonesia and Australia has undertaken participatory rural appraisals in designated sites at Serampad in West Java and Legundi in South Lampung. In Serampad it was found that banana is only the secondary crop, and is planted in mixed cropping systems with high-value crops such as maize, chilli and other vegetables. In Legundi it was found that banana production systems are based only on farmers’ knowledge and that farmers have no formal training or information on banana production, disease management and IPM/IDM, a situation leading to low productivity. The varieties planted in the area are not popular varieties in the market, thus commanding a low price. These findings highlight the need for banana production and disease management technologies that increase productivity. Institute, Solok.

Identification of annual and semi-perennial forage legumes adapted to the eastern Indonesian semi-arid tropical environment has provided the opportunity to increase food security through modification of the traditional maize-based farming system. While greater than 1,000 mm of annual rainfall is common in West Timor, the majority falls during a relatively short wet season of around 4 months’ duration. This is followed by a long dry season in which food security becomes a major concern to subsistence farmers. Poor agronomic practice and the inability of farmers to afford inputs such as fertiliser often result in suboptimal yields of maize. Likewise, animal ownership, seen as a means of farmer participation in the cash economy, is limited by the high cost of initial investment and the often limited availability of high-quality forage for year-round animal feeding.

Consequently, the identification of a number of forage legumes, well adapted to the environment and able to be sown in relay or rotation with maize, has the potential to impact on the food security of the province. A project has identified three forage legumes agronomically suited and accepted by farmers for inclusion in the existing farming system, and there are some signs that West Timor farmers are starting to adopt them. The project is now looking for opportunities for legumes in other farming systems and agroclimatological regions of eastern Indonesia. During the 2009–10 wet season, research commenced on the integration of forage legumes into the rice- and maize-based farming systems on the island of Flores.

In another project the scientists are evaluating strategies to improve calf survival in West Timor villages. During 2009, 173 calves received supplements at 2% of body weight (using a ration containing 18% crude protein). Observations were also made on 33 untreated control animals. The mortality rate of supplemented and unsupplemented calves was 2.9% and 30.3% respectively, while the average daily gain was 190 g/day and 113 g/day, respectively, for the same two groups. The project team is now overseeing a transitional step to a commercial, self-funding application of the technology. Participating farmers receive advice and support, and are required to report on the previous 2 weeks’ activities before receiving the next lot of rations. Farmers who have participated in previous years and know the benefits have accepted the new system well, but the team is trying to overcome some initial reluctance from new farmers entering the scheme.

Another livestock project is aiming to improve the reproductive performance of cows and the performance of fattening cattle in low-input systems of Indonesia and northern Australia. The first on-station experiment has commenced at the Beef Cattle Research Institute (BCRI) in East Java to determine the minimum amount of green feed required to maintain the body condition score of ongole (Bos indicus) cows fed on rice straw. Preliminary results indicate that dry cows and cows in the early stages of pregnancy are able to maintain body condition score and live weight on a rice– straw-based diet. This is important information for the scientists and farmers involved in the village work. Around 100 collaborator farmers from the two village project sites in East Java visited BCRI recently to view the experiment and were surprised but happy to see that the cows can do well on these diets.

Research to improve cocoa production is involving farmers in demonstration trials of potentially superior and pest/disease-resistant genotypes and integrated management practices. This year, under a project variation, the project was extended to include two new partner institutions in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. Project activities in these provinces include farmer training using IPM/IDM demonstration trials, transfer of cocoa management technologies to locally based government staff and the initiation of clone selection and testing. Based on a model developed by a previous ACIAR project in PNG, adjacent plots were established on a cocoa farm in Alang-Alang, Papua, to demonstrate the effect of different levels of input of labour and materials (such as fertiliser or compost) on production. Similar demonstration plots were established during the following month in Mandopi, West Papua.

The productivity and profitability enhancement of tropical pulses were studied in field trials at three locations in dryland regions of Lombok province to evaluate the performance of peanut varieties preferred by the local market. Two new varieties, Singa and Domba, recorded the highest yields. It was also clear that seed quality played a positive role in the crop performance of new varieties compared with the seed commonly accessed from the local market. Two peanut on-farm trials conducted during the wet season of 2009 demonstrated significant yield and economic benefits from the best-bet practices over local practices. On-farm trials with mung bean also demonstrated significant yield benefits by dibbling in rows compared with broadcasting in dryland environments. These results demonstrated that the local practice of broadcasting seed is fraught with risk of insect damage as well as loss of seed viability due to direct exposure to high temperatures and evaporation at the soil surface, resulting in a suboptimal and uneven plant population.

A project aims to introduce and foster market-driven business practices in the superior quality mandarins (keprok) supply chain. This has involved visits, product testing and discussion with supermarkets, distributors, wet markets, traders and collectors. Researchers now have a good understanding of the market requirements for Indonesian citrus, and the significant impediments that keprok has compared with imported citrus. However, they have highlighted several niche opportunities worth pursuing that should provide impetus to improve quality, logistics and supply issues. These include, in particular, the gift (‘ole ole’) markets and smaller (higher value) retail outlets. Work is also underway to introduce best practice technologies to lift the fruit quality. These are based on results from previous studies and involve a combination of cultural practices and intermittent irrigation during the dry season.

Production of passionfruit encounters challenges that are common to both South Sulawesi and north-western Australia—for South Sulawesi the primary market driver is consistent monthly supply for processing fruit; for north-western Australia it is a high-priced niche for fresh fruit. A project aims to resolve these issues. One objective is to improve passionfruit vine longevity through appropriate disease management in highland production areas of South Sulawesi and Australia. Comprehensive surveys have been completed in the two areas, revealing the presence of a number of economic pests and diseases. Disease management strategies for passionfruit have been developed, and in Sulawesi the project team has conducted initial workshops on the use of disease-tolerant rootstocks and grafting techniques. Disease-tolerant varieties are being introduced, and in South Sulawesi a local cultivar, ‘Bogor Gold’, is currently being used commercially with good success in the highlands. The project is already making significant impacts in passionfruit development in both South Sulawesi and Australia.

Another project seeks to generate value-chain solutions that improve the engagement of smallholder farmers in eastern Indonesia with the international specialty coffee market. The project is active across the provinces of South Sulawesi and ENT. It has a strong emphasis on end-user (market-driven) engagement and is actively coordinating with international coffee buyers at various stages of project implementation. A principal focus is a study of the socioeconomic institutions that underpin smallholder coffee production and trade in eastern Indonesia. A survey involving 796 coffee-growing households was completed in March 2009; the data has been analysed and a draft report has been prepared. Key findings have related to the influence that localised livelihood strategies have on the potential for value-chain engagement. Action-research methodologies involving the facilitation of buyer linkages with producers in Flores and Enrekang are now being pursued during the 2010 harvest.

A project on improving productivity of Acacia mangium plantations, grown on 6-year rotations for use as pulpwood, has focused on improved genetics and better site management to prove that productivity can be doubled. The management changes also reduce the use of fertilisers by up to 30%, thereby increasing profits for smallholder growers and increasing the availability of plantationgrown resources for Indonesia’s pulp and paper industries. For smallholder plantation owners, who typically have 5 ha of plantations, this would mean an average increase in income of $530 per year over the life of the plantation.

In the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) research work is helping to develop moreprofitable and resilient farming systems following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. As part of ACIAR’s commitment to tsunami recovery in NAD, it funded two projects that addressed soil and agronomic production constraints arising from the tsunami, and emphasised capacity-building activities at the regional and farmer levels. Current research is addressing some of the identified constraints by focusing on mixed farming with rice–legume rotations. The project team has undertaken a survey of infrastructure and climatic constraints to the local farming systems in four districts, producing maps of irrigation network condition and soil type, and an analysis of climate variability for each district in the project. This survey has identified the sections of the irrigation networks that are damaged or poorly maintained. Permanent trial and demonstration sites have been established in the four districts. Of particular note are the eight women’s farming groups that commenced in the period June 2009 – April 2010, supported by local extension staff.