On 13 February 2013, Dr. Kasdi Subagyono, Executive Secretary of the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) made his keynote remarks on behalf of Dr. Haryono, Director General of IAARD, Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia.
Indonesian agriculture is dominated by smallholder farmers who own limited land of about 0.5 hectares and have low educational levels. However, Dr. Subagyono noted that the number of smallholder farmers increases year by year. In 2012, Indonesia was home to 15.6 million smallholders compared to 13.7 million in 1993! Government policies therefore remain extremely important in supporting smallholder farmers.
IAARD, as a centre for agricultural research and development in Indonesia, realizes that a key issue in transferring technologies to Indonesian farmers lies in the variety of agro-ecology, culture and socio-economic conditions. Through its activities, IAARD tries to develop new technologies suitable to these conditions and locations. Twelve research centers of IAARD cover all areas of agricultural research. To deliver technologies from researchers to farmers, IAARD has 33 Agricultural Technology Assessment Institutes (AIATs) which exist in every province in Indonesia.
Over the years, IAARD learned that for technology innovation system to work for smallholders, it requires generation of appropriate, demand-driven or even market-driven technologies that are needed by farmers and other end-users. As such, AIATs are organizing researchers and extensionists to work together and disseminate new technologies to farmers. By involving farmers, AIATs conduct on-farm experiments at the village level so that farmers can directly learn how to apply new technologies and adopt them more easily.
IAARD has also developed an approach called Multi-Channel Spectrum Dissemination that engages various stakeholders in technology dissemination by involving institutions from the ministry level, local government, universities, the private sector and NGO.
Dr. Subagyono stressed that creation of synergies among innovation, delivery and receiving is a key for successful technology transfer. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can play an important role in this process. “A mutually beneficial business partnership between SME and smallholders farmers can be facilitated by providing incentives to drive more SMEs involvement in producing higher value-added and profitable products,” Dr. Subagyono shared. “With higher value-added, smallholders would also benefit and be encouraged to participate in the innovation process,” he concluded.
To close his statement, Dr. Subagyono emphasized that it is necessary to continuously improve research and development and facilitate international cooperation to ensure that technologies are timely and serve the needs of smallholder farmers.
Alfi Inayati, Indonesian Legumes and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI), alfi_inayati@yahoo.com
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