Copyright @Balitjestro

GFS Researcher Dr Dale Yi recently returned from a visit to Indonesia from 29th March to 13th April 2014. Dale visited several research centres under the Indonesian Center for Horticulture Research and Development (ICHORD)  including Balitjestro (Citrus and sub-tropical fruits R&D) and Balitsa (vegetables R&D). These research centres are the Global Food Studies’ partners in an ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research)-funded project (AGB/2009/060) “Improving market integration for high value fruit and vegetable production systems in Indonesia”. The project aims to better understand product cycles and changes occurring in high-value fruit and vegetable value chains, and develop policy mechanisms to deliver on changing consumer requirements.

Dale’s visit highlights challenges and opportunities for both Australia and Indonesia to further the collaboration.

The horticulture sector in Indonesia is still facing substantial challenges for creating smallholder-inclusive agribusiness development strategies. The Global Food Studies team in particular Prof Randy Stringer and Dr Dale Yi, financially supported by ACIAR aim to assist the Indonesian government develop efficient strategies to improve smallholder access and competitiveness.

Dale’s recent visit to Indonesia was to follow up some earlier activities in the project. The project had its inception workshop in July 2014 which was well-attended by various stakeholders in Indonesia. This follow-up visit was to reconnect the research network and identify sucessful smallholder-inclusive interventions that the Indonesian government or private sector have conducted in the horticulture sector. Once these interventions have been identified, opportunities for scaling up and scaling out to different sectors and regions can therefore be assessed.

One potential government program that the project considers to investigate is citrus seed subsidy programs in Tuban, East Java. Started four years ago, this public program distributes free citrus seeds to a number of farmers in the region. The program involves local governments at the municipality level to invest in infrastructure development such as roads and fund the training to target traders.

Initial observations from Dale’s visit suggest that there is an opportunity to improve the design of existing public programs. The Global Food Studies can assist Balitjetstro and Balitsa by delivering capacity building programs including getting Indonesian researchers involved in fieldwork collecting data and information for value chain analysis and conducting comprehensive program evaluation.

Visit Balitjetstro’s website to read about Dale’s recent visit (in Indonesian): ACIAR Jajaki Kerjasama Penelitian Agribisnis Jeruk dan Buah Subtropika

*This article is written based on the interview with Dr Dale Yi on 23 April 2014 and may be subject to the interviewer’s interpretation.