Technology transfer to improve
agricultural productivity and sustainability in Indonesia
In a
presentation to the Third SATNET Policy Dialogue, Dr. Made Jana Mejaya, Director
of Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research and Development, Ministry of
Agriculture, Indonesia explained how technology transfer is being used to
sustainably increase food crop production, in particular rice, to feed the
country’s large population at a time when conversion of agricultural land to
non-farm use has reduced the number of farmers in Indonesia.
To
attain self-sufficiency in the staple rice which still needs to be imported, the
Government has involved the private sector and civil society organizations in
agricultural research and extension and dietary change advocacy. The strategies
to reach this target include: decreasing yield losses by 1.5 per cent per year,
reducing per capita rice consumption by 1.5 per cent per year, establishing
about 130 000 ha of new rice farms, increasing rice productivity from 5.2 to 5.5
tons/ha and increasing the planting index from 1.5 to 1.7.
The
quality of agricultural produce is also being increased through initiatives such
as the Sustainable Household Food Security Program involving women and implemented
through the pilot project “Food Smart Village”. This is improving the local ecology
by optimizing use of water resources and promoting food diversification,
integrated crop-livestock systems, conservation agriculture, zero-waste and
climate change adaptation.
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