Indonesia

Country News and Stories

Making the transition out of subsistence agriculture in West Timor
Australian volunteer Skye Gabb recently spent 10 months living in West Timor. She worked with the local Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology (BPTP NTT) on an ACIAR project helping farmers integrate forage legumes to increase crop and livestock production.

Improving beef cattle productivity in Indonesia
Improving the productivity of smallholder beef cattle production is integral to strengthening rural livelihoods and increasing the supply of domestically produced beef in Indonesia.

Pulses bring food and profit to Eastern Indonesia
Farmers in eastern Indonesia are growing more protein-rich pulses and gaining financial benefits through partnerships with agricultural researchers and the private sector.

Research key to improving Indonesian farmers' welfare
Agriculture experts from Indonesia and Australia met in Bogor on 30 November 2011 to identify research projects aimed at boosting welfare for smallholder farmers. The meeting, part of consultations held by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), looked at scientific projects to boost agricultural production in Indonesia.

ACIAR's forestry research in Indonesia
Indonesia has a population of 230 million people, about half of whom live in rural areas with some dependence on forests. Indonesia has around 95 million hectares of forest, which includes some of the world's most diverse tropical forests and about 44 million hectares of primary forest. It is expanding its plantation estate, which now stands at about 3.5 million hectares of which 1.6 million hectares is Acacia mangium. The Indonesian forest industries are large, annually producing about 13 million tonnes of pulp and paper products and about 5 million m^3 of wood panels each year.

Rice research dollar delivers high returns
South-East Asian rice farmers are harvesting an extra US$1.46 billion worth of rice every year as a result of long-term research on rice varietal improvement by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) according to a new ACIAR report.

Aceh women farmers unite
An initiative supporting women farmer groups in Aceh, Indonesia, is reaping economic, health and social rewards.

Farmers happy with increased rice yields in Sulawesi
Rice farmers in South and Southeast Sulawesi, who have significantly boosted their rice yields, have given positive feedback on an ACIAR-funded research program that is working towards a 10% increase in irrigated rice production.

International Year of Forests
To raise awareness of the importance of forests and to strengthen efforts for their sustainable development, the United Nations has declared 2011 the International Year of Forests. Together with Governments, organisations and major forest stakeholder groups around the world, the United Nations is promoting four Global Objectives for the improved management, conservation and sustainable development of the world’s forests.

Farmer business schools
Farmer business schools are being trialled across Asia to increase farmers’ potential to adapt to the needs of modern supply chains.

Visit to help Indonesia better manage soils
Three Indonesian scientists visited the NSW North Coast in July 2010 to learn from the NSW experience with managing acid sulphate soils and soil carbon. Their visit was a follow-up to a successful ACIAR project that has helped tsunami-ravaged farmers in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Volunteer agricultural opportunities

Do you know people in the Agriculture sector who would like to volunteer in a developing country?

Australia/Indonesia Fisheries Research Partnership
Strategic priorities for fisheries research partnerships with Indonesia were developed with key Indonesian agencies at consultations in Jakarta on 17-18 May 2010 to help direct ACIAR’s fisheries program for the next decade.

Visit highlights partnerships between Indonesia and Australia
The importance of Australia’s agricultural research program in Indonesia was highlighted during a recent visit by the ACIAR Chief Executive Officer Dr Nick Austin.

ABC Rural reporter visits Indonesia
ABC Rural reporter Sarina Locke spent two weeks travelling to Java, Bali and West Timor in April 2009 where she interviewed many of the scientists and farmers involved in ACIAR-funded projects.

Media release: Indonesian cocoa growers benefit from Australian research partnership
Smallholder cocoa growers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have the opportunity to boost their incomes and improve their family’s welfare by growing new pest-resistant, high-yielding cocoa varieties developed though an Australian and Indonesian research partnership.

Training the next generation
The cocoa revival in Sulawesi is exemplified by the jump in students studying cocoa cultivation and management at the Agricultural Technical School, Bone Bone, Sulawesi. The number of first-year enrolments in cocoa studies has risen from 25 to 110 in three years.

Developing farm-based businesses
The smallholder cocoa growers in Sulawesi are looking forward to putting more money in their pockets through growing new pest-resistant, high-yielding cocoa varieties developed though an Australian and Indonesian research partnership.

Vital partnerships
ACIAR has brought together Australian and Indonesian research and extension agencies, and the cocoa buyer Mars Incorporated, in a strong partnership with smallholder cocoa growers to encourage replanting with improved varieties and better crop management.

Future rests on genetics
Central to the rebuilding effort in the Sulawesi cocoa industry is the need for a large-scale cocoa genotype improvement program that can deliver to growers disease and pest-resistant seedlings which produce good-quality cocoa that is also locally adapted.

Indonesia newsletters
Newsletters from the ACIAR Indonesia office.

Research partnership helps Sulawesi cocoa growers
Smallholder cocoa growers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have the opportunity to boost their incomes by growing new pest-resistant, high-yielding cocoa varieties developed though an Australian and Indonesian research partnership.

Tsunami, fisheries and 10 years of research partnership in Indonesia
Celebrating a 10-year partnership on sustainable, brackish-water aquaculture in Indonesia between ACIAR, the University of New South Wales, Indonesian government organisations and farming communities. Read all media releases

Celebrating 25 Years of Australia-Indonesia Agricultural Research Partnership
ACIAR marks 25 years of involvement in Indonesia. Read all media releases

Profiting from the climate prophets
Making seasonal climate forecasts available to farmers in Indonesia is contributing to better water-resource management

Outcomes from 2009-10 impact assessments
Outcomes from the latest impact assessments.

Australia Indonesia Partnership
ACIAR's participation in the Australia-Indonesia partnership

Rebuilding agriculture in East Timor
ACIAR's work on rebuilding agriculture in East Timor

Reduced tillage to help boost crop yields
ACIAR's work on conservation tillage is changing cropping practices and boosting crop yields

ACIAR and Indonesia - read ABC TV's Landline report
ACIAR has been working in Indonesia for almost two decades,withthe latest research reported on by ABC TV's Landline. Visit the Landline site to read more. http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2005/s1324902.htm