Focus on our work in Indonesia

Here at ACIAR we wish the people of Indonesia well as they celebrate their Independence Day.
Kerja Bersama!

ACIAR has collaborated with Indonesia for 35 years – since we first started our work in agricultural research.  This longstanding partnership has benefitted farmers and agriculture in both countries through the development of technologies and innovations.

At the moment we have more than thirty research projects in Indonesia, across agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.  These projects help to reduce poverty, improve food security, and empower women and girls.

Ocean seaweed farming in Indonesia

Fish are crucial for the food security of coastal people. And for the economic development of fishing communities, who are often among the poorest and most vulnerable in their region.  We are investigating how fisheries provide food, income and livelihoods for coastal communities.

We are also looking at ways to make Indonesia’s tuna fisheries more productive and sustainable and developing a bilingual web-based tool to identify fish. Our fisheries projects are also expanding spiny lobster aquaculture and improving seaweed production and processing - both major industries.

 

Our agribusiness projects connect farmers to fruit and vegetable markets and to value chains for coffee and cocoa, cassava and dairy products. Our animal health projects help farmers with ways to farm pigs and fatten up beef.

Our soil management and crop nutrition programs are working on dryland agriculture systems in tsunami-affected regions of Aceh. Our horticulture projects aim to help Indonesian farmers to grow shallots, garlic and chilli and to protect their crops from sugarcane disease and fruit fly.

Ginger is planted as a crop under a forest

Our forestry projects are developing eucalyptus, acacia and sandalwood plantations; helping farmers to reduce the damage from tree diseases and creating DNA-based chain-of-custody systems for teak, so it can be exported to countries with strict regulations. We are exploring community-based commercial forestry, so that farmer forest groups can make better investment decisions.

We are diversifying market-based integrated agroforestry systems to enhance the production and marketing of timber and other forest products. We are helping the Indonesian government to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation to benefit communities. We are also working to prevent fires in the peatlands and restore large areas of degraded peatland.

Other projects are focusing on ways for farmers to feed livestock. We are integrating herbaceous tropical legumes into grain cropping systems, and investigating supplementary feeding strategies for fattening cattle.  We are also upgrading a database of tropical and semi-tropical forages that farmers can use to identify forage species suitable for specific climates, soils, and farming systems.

 

Tilapia fish seedstock in the ocean in Indonesia

Indonesia is one of our first partners in agricultural research, and we are doing a variety of work across the spectrum of agriculture in Indonesia. Whether it is fattening cows, identifying fish or beating crop diseases, our work in Indonesia aims to make food systems more resilient, for the farmers and people of Indonesia.

Read more about our projects in Indonesia

http://aciar.gov.au/country/indonesia/view/currentprojects