To kick off the event, Nigel Brett, IFAD’s regional director of the Asia and Pacific region and Dedi Nursyamsi, of Indonesia’s Agriculture Ministry, gave their keynote speeches. They also exchanged a book marking their four-decade partnership and journey in sustainable rural transformations in Indonesia from 1980 to 2020.

Brett highlighted some of IFAD’s projects including the organization’s work in Maluku that helped several families of farmers, as well as a project helping families in coastal communities access sustainable marine resources. The latter was one of their most successful projects, on both a national and international scale. He also shared a video detailing IFAD’s presence and work in Indonesia.

From the government’s perspective, Dedi Nursyamsi stated that the government “has always placed IFAD as a strategic partner” and thanked the organization for their continuous support. Noting that agriculture is the only sector that grew from 2019 to 2020, he invited the viewers to look to the future and focus on maintaining food security, as well as how the pandemic has placed obstacles in the mission to eradicate hunger. Moreover, he highlighted the Agriculture Ministry’s five ways to action for the future, which was discussed in more detail by the speakers.

Mediated by IFAD program officer Nicholas Syed, the forum invited five speakers; Anang Nugroho from the National Development Planning Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BAPPENAS), Christa Rader from the World Food Program, Mars Inc.’s Fay Fay Choo, Agusdin Pulungan as President of Wahana Masyarakat Tani dan Nelayan Indonesia (WAMTI) and Harlina Sulistyorini from the Villages, Disadvantages Regions and Transmigration Ministry.

Anang Nugroho of BAPPENAS spoke about the significant linkage between smallholder farmers and efficient markets to increase their productivity and profit, crediting financial inclusion as a means to achieve the goal. “As the rural transformation is the backbone of this country’s economic transformation, I think this experience is timely, since at this moment, the government is not only placing importance on the economic recovery program, but we are also striving and placing context on how to accelerate the economic transformation,” he said. He emphasized that BAPPENAS would like to seek synergies between rural transformation, economic transformation and the agri-food sector operations.

Christa Rader, a representative of the World Food Program, said, “we are bound together to the 2030 Agenda,” referring to the agenda set forth by the United Nations encouraging a shift toward sustainable development based on human rights and equality. Rader emphasized that a holistic approach was needed to improve rural communities by being more inclusive to the younger generation, women, indigenous people and the less fortunate. Moreover, communities need to be taught how to be resilient toward climate change, “Rural transformation needs to compliment urban transformation,” Rader added. Staying true to the mantra of leaving no one behind, she said that these improvements and changes need to be centered on smallholders and consumers who also created the demand.

Fay Fay Choo, Asia Director for Cocoa Sustainable Sourcing, said she believed that farmers were the actors of change, noting that Mars Inc. has had history and a presence In Indonesia for 20 years. “We all have moral obligation to play our part,” she stated when asked what inclusion means to companies in the private sector. Fay Fay emphasized that the private sector companies could bring science and technology to improve and empower smallholder farmers in rural communities.

Agusdin Pulungan, President of WAMTI, pointed out the ever-changing priorities of all the actors involved. He said that the priorities were “very complex, so many dimensions, different from time to time.” To demonstrate this, he shared how four decades ago, the main urgency was to acquire fertilizers and irrigation systems. Then twenty years ago, it changed to machinery, farm roads and market infrastructures. He added that the current priority is to have an easier business climate and facilities for smallholders so that they have enough capacity to interact with those outside the rural communities. Moreover, they need high technology in order to produce “high quality products with less resources,” thus making the agriculture sector more sustainable.

Although Agusdin acknowledged that there has been support from the government, he suggested to “change the way of thinking and approach the petani (or farmer) as only being receivers.” However, Anang later intercepted and said that he aimed for smallholder farmers to become market-oriented.

Harlina Sulistyorini explained that the village ministry’s main policy was to strengthen farmers’ businesses and to increase the sustainability of their production. There are about 750,000 villages across the nation and one of the challenges is to avoid urbanization. The ministry, with the help of IFAD, hopes to get some of the villages to work together to realize their optimal potential. It is important to note that these rural communities come with their own set of customs and traditions about agriculture, which may be beneficial for other communities too.

In order to help smallholders, the government has implemented the “Dana Desa” (village fund), which is set up to improve the welfare of rural communities and reduce poverty. The funds from Dana Desa can also be allocated to increase capital for smallholder farmers, such as for fertilizers and seeds.

How to include youth was one of the biggest topics of the forum, as most of the current generation of farmers are opting to move to urban centers in search of better opportunities. Those in attendance voted, via a poll that was taken at the start of the event, that engaging youth and women is the highest priority in achieving sustainable rural transformation. Moreover, attendants also voted that building opportunities for youth is the biggest challenge in rural transformation. Syed spoke about his experience in IFAD and said that “to showcase that agriculture again, is not just farming; it’s about profit, it’s about business, it’s about being tech-savvy, being entrepreneurial. These are aspects that I believe that young people are very attracted to.”

Agusdin closed the forum section of the event by reiterating that the strategic cooperation with IFAD was deep and their collaboration to connect assistance from food production to bringing it to the marketplace was greatly appreciated. They concluded by announcing their latest initiative in Lampung focusing on the cassava business with 25 farmer families. Rajendra Aryal, a representative from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recapped the forum well by saying; “We talk about issues from very different lenses.”

To round up the event, Ivan Cossio Cortez, IFAD’s country director for Indonesia highlighted the top priorities for the organization in the future. They include social inclusion for women and youth, productive transformation to feed the world without destroying the planet, empowering smallholder farmers to make their business more profitable and making sustainable use of natural resources in the country.

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