The objective of the project is to improve incomes and promote sustainable livelihoods among vegetable farming households in West and Central Java, Indonesia. It seeks to achieve this by integrating farmers in profitable supply chains and enhancing the capacity to adopt new technology and innovative practices that are market driven.
The project methodology combines: a) participatory market chain approach (PMCA) to stimulate innovation through joint learning and action by chain partners, b) farmer field school (FFS) to strengthen farmers' capacity for market-oriented agricultural livelihoods and for managing relations with other market chain partners, and c) empirical socio-economic research to systematically assess status, needs/opportunities and outcomes.
The four-year project was launched in February 2008 and is now entering its second year of implementation. During this initial period, the project has accomplished the following:
1) Established and formalized a broad, diverse partnership among stakeholders in the Indonesian potato/vegetable sector,
2) Assessed needs and opportunities for linking farmers with markets through rapid market chain assessment,
3) Strengthened capacity of project partners through training on PMCA,
4) Facilitated contacts and established working relationships between farmers and other market chain partners,
5) Formed action learning groups, involving farmers and other market chain partners, which target business opportunities for fresh- and processed-potato markets,
6) Identified and developed an initial set of technological, institutional and commercial innovations (i.e. Cumely-brand for baby potatoes and sorted/graded tubers, improved quality and packaging of traditional snackfood products, and marketing agreements with institutional buyers of fresh and processed potato products.

The objective of the project is to improve incomes and promote sustainable livelihoods among vegetable farming households in West and Central Java, Indonesia. It seeks to achieve this by integrating farmers in profitable supply chains and enhancing the capacity to adopt new technology and innovative practices that are market driven.
The reporting period approximately covers Year 2 of the project. During this period, the project completed the field piloting of two key approaches in linking farmers with markets: 1) participatory market chain approach (PMCA), and 2) farmer business school (FBS).
The pilot PMCA was conducted for two potato market chains (i.e. fresh and processed) in West Java. The PMCA final event was conducted in June 2009, followed by post-PMCA support for further business development. There were a total of 80 participants, representing 8 categories of market chain actors, for the year-long PMCA process. Of these, 42 were small-scale farmers and snackfood processors-entrepreneurs. A post-PMCA monitoring study indicated that five months later, at least 30 of these actors had initiated/expanded potato businesses by utilizing the marketing innovations introduced through PMCA.
One key insight from the pilot PMCA is the need for farmers to have prior capacity strengthening support, in order for them to more effectively deal with other market chain actors during the PMCA process. Subsequently, the FBS approach was conceptualized by adapting the conventional farmer field school (FFS) into a market-oriented learning process, named the farmer business school (FBS).
A draft FBS curriculum was developed at a workshop in October 2009, which among others built on the FFS experience in the ACIAR CP/2005/167 project. The FBS was first piloted from October 2009 to April 2010, involving 14 farmers in Central Java who earlier participated in a potato-Brassica crop management FFS. By the time the FBS was completed, farmers had successfully negotiated with, and started to supply fresh potato to, a local supermarket in Solo in Central Java.

The objective of the project is to improve incomes and promote sustainable livelihoods among vegetable farming households in West and Central Java, Indonesia. It seeks to achieve this by integrating farmers in profitable supply chains and enhancing the capacity to adopt new technology and innovative practices that are market driven. The project therefore focuses on field-testing two key action research approaches for pro-poor market chain development -- Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) and Farmer Business School (FBS).
The reporting period approximately covers Year 3 of the project. During this period, the project undertook business development support to PMCA participants while completing the second cycle of FBS piloting in West and Central Java.
After implementing the three-phase PMCA approach in West Java (2008-09), participants launched and expanded eight cases of potato/vegetable market chains. Six of these dealt with processed products (i.e. snackfoods), and two with marketing fresh vegetables. To assist in further business development, the project worked with market chain actors in product promotion, accessing institutional support services, and continuing innovation for product improvement. Highlights include:
- Operational linkage with modern supermarkets companies (e.g. Carrefour, CV Bimandiri).
- Network of retail outlets for snackfood products established in urban centers (e.g. Bandung, Jakarta).
- Income and employment creation through rural enterprises that mobilize local workforce and resources, especially with women (e.g. Garut and Pangalengan).
- Novel and improvised traditional products introduced in local and regional markets (e.g. jacket potato chips, dodol and mustafa).
- Small-scale producers' access to institutional services established (e.g. grant from government agencies, credit from financial institutions, and training support from service providers such as Indonesian Chamber of Commerce),
- Awards and recognitions (national award by Ministry of Trade for best in packaging innovation by small-scale food processors, product promotions through expos sponsored by Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, the project organized a series of workshops in 2010 to review and share experiences from the first pilot FBS in Central Java (2009-10). Subsequently, a second cycle (2010-11) of FBS piloting was undertaken involving four groups in West and Central Java. The pilot FBSs resulted in farmers' groups launching new businesses involving: 1) fresh potato for supermarkets, 2) potato snackfood for local markets, 3) black soybean to supply a sauce processing company (Unilever) and utilization of by-products, and 4) broccoli for export market.
As part of regional sharing, the project and ACIAR co-organized a regional workshop on FBS to share experiences with 4 other ACIAR agribusiness-oriented projects in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Project experiences have also been incorporated in CIP program development, with 2 new grant projects for adapting the Indonesian experience in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
During its last year of implementation (2011-12), the project plans to document and synthesize PMCA and FBS experiences, develop various knowledge products, and organize a national dissemination workshop for potential upscaling of project outputs/ outcomes..