Blog post prepared by Sacha Amaruzaman, PhD Student at the Centre for Global Food & Resources
Workshop participants from University of Indonesia, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), University of New England, and FOERDIA
Indonesia’s agricultural sector in the last decade has rapidly expanded in order to provide food for the growing population, as well as boosting the economic growth. Much of this expansion is in the upland area, bringing trade-off between the economic development and environmental quality.
The Centre for Global Food and Resources (GFAR) at the University of Adelaide has initiated a new research project (2018-2021) titled ‘Agricultural Policy Research to Support Natural Resource Management in Indonesia’s Upland Landscapes’, also known as IndoGreen. IndoGreen is funded by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and implemented in collaboration with national partners in Indonesia, the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Socio-Economic and Policy Studies (ICASEPS) of the Ministry of Agriculture, The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and the World Wildlife Fund. Each partner will be involved to manage the three upland research sites, one in Java and two in Sumatra Island.
The project facilitates the collaboration between researchers from the University of Indonesia (UI), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), the Forestry and Environmental Research, Development and Innovation Agency (FOERDIA) of Indonesia, and scientists from the University of New England (UNE) and Australia National University (ANU) of Australia.
The project aims to provide evidence-based recommendations on policy, for promoting environmentally sound farming practices in Indonesia’s upland area. To achieve that aim, the project will identify the main agricultural policies and analyse the trade-off between the economics and environmental impacts of the policies using the ecological and economic model.
Prof Randy Stringer, Dr Ejaz Qureshi (ACIAR Project manager), Dr Abdul Basit (Director of ICASEPS), Dr Erwidodo (Senior researcher of ICASEPS)
IndoGreen Preparation meeting
From January 30th to February 1st 2018, a series of preparation meetings were held at ICASEPS’ office in Bogor, Indonesia. In attendance were Professor Randy Stringer, the project coordinator from GFAR, Henri Perkasa (GFAR research associate) and Sacha Amaruzaman (GFAR PhD student) as well as the partners from Australia (ACIAR, UNE, and ANU) and Indonesia (ICASEPS, ICRAF, WWF, IPB and UI).
The project advisory group meeting on the 30th of January 2018 involved the advisory board members from the national ministries (National Planning Agency (BAPPENAS); Indonesia Agency for Agricultural Research and Development Board (IAARD); Indonesia Forestry Research and Development Agency (FOERDIA); NGO (Tropenbos International – a forestry NGO), and universities (UI and IPB). During this meeting, Ejaz Qureshi from ACIAR conveyed his appreciation and expectations for IndoGreen activities.
The planning workshop on 31 January provided the opportunity for partners to share and synergize their inputs for the project activities, research methodology, and collaboration plan. A special emphasis was placed on the strategy to integrate the economic studies to assess economic impact, with the biophysical research to measure environmental impacts of upland agricultural activities.
The project partners had a courtesy meeting on the final day with Dr. Prama Yufdy, the Secretary of IAARD from the Ministry of Agriculture, and successfully secured his endorsement and support to bridge IndoGreen’s research activities with policy at the local and national level.
